The Lost Tiger
by warrioressk
Summary: Tora is a tiger demon that ended up in the future. Having made friends with Kagome Higurashi, she finds out that her friend is able to get back to the past. Now, finally back in her own time, Tora ends up meeting a cold-hearted Dog demon. Cat and dogs usually don't get along... or will these two prove that theory wrong?
1. Prologue

**So this is my first time writing a Sesshomaru paring story, I've written a one-shot, but not a story. Please feel free to review and let me know what you think, just please don't be haters, constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

_Prologue_

All that was heard was a woosh of wind and the rattle of the leaves before it fell silent in the forest once again…

Until a shrill voice screamed out "Tora!" the sound full of fear and pain, the one whose name fell from the lips of a small boy called back "Akai!" her own voice full of desperation and fear as she ran through the trees, desperately following the boys scent trail.

A chuckle sounded, seeming to bounce among the trees "look at that, the poor tiger unable to defend her own family" it cooed as a whimper was heard from the boy named Akai. Tora let forth a rumbling growl, her eyes flashing in anger at the voice "let him go Ankoku, this is between you and I, he has nothing to do with this!" She screeched into the air.

She could feel her body shaking as she wanted to shift to her demon form, but before she could Ankoku spoke up again "on the contrary my dear, the moment you decided to betray me, you brought him into this twisted circle" he snarled, anger lacing his voice.

At that Tora felt her body twisting and reforming to that of a gigantic white tiger, her lips pulled back in a fearsome snarl. Suddenly a figure dressed in a black hood appeared in front of her, holding the arm of a young boy, his other hand poised at the boy's throat, his claws gently pressing against the tender skin.

"Now, now Tora wouldn't want to do anything rash now would you?" the figure sneered. Tora growled but didn't make a move towards the figure, although she desperately wanted to sink her fangs into the demon's throat and watch as his life faded away.

"Good girl, now why don't you shift back to your human form so that we can talk properly" he ordered her, his voice edged with steel, Tora growled, hating taking orders from anyone but shifted back despite her instincts telling her not to. "What do you want?" She hissed her eyes still red as her beast lingered near the surface.

Ankoku grinned viciously at her "you know what I want" he said simply, Tora clenched her hands at her sides, her body shaking. She knew what he wanted; he wanted her to pledge herself to him in a way to where she could never escape him unless he released her.

She opened her mouth to agree when Akai spoke up "don't do it Tora!" he cried, staring with wide eyes at his older sister. Ankoku growled and added more pressure against his throat with his claws "silence boy!" but, like his sister, Akai didn't listen "don't do it!" he repeated desperately.

Ankoku snarled at the boy again and dug his claws deep enough to draw blood. Tora growled and lunged forward, her eyes red and blaring with fire. Ankoku hissed and muttered something under his breath before shoving Akai away from him and directing his youkai at her.

Tora screamed as something washed over her, seeming to burn her skin, she screamed for what seemed like forever before she finally passed into darkness…

A moan slipped from Tora's mouth as she gained consciousness. Fluttering her eyes open, Tora looked around, her brows furrowing in confusion at the unfamiliar surroundings. She was in a forest, she knew that much, but it wasn't any forest that could remember.

Dread suddenly washed over her as she remembered what happened before she blacked out, she immediately looked over her body to see if she bore the mark that Ankoku wanted to place on her, but felt relief when she didn't find any marks on her body.

With that thought she turned her attention to her brother, and fear shot through her, wondering what had happened to Akai, she shivered in fear before she pushed herself to her feet and scented the air, frowning when she realized that the scents she was picking up wasn't anything she recognized.

Growling she moved towards the scent of humans. She slowly but surely emerged from the trees but stayed in the shadows as she stared wide-eyed at what was in front of her. These… structures, weren't the feeble shacks and huts she was used to, they towered over her in a demeaning and threatening way.

Looking around she spotted humans walking around in strange clothes, especially the woman, they didn't wear kimonos, and rather they wore what looked like men's breeches and strange tunics that ended right as the breeches began. Slinking back into the shadows she decided to watch this strange new world.

_What happened? _She asked her beast, to her surprise her beast seemed just as confused as she did _if I didn't know any better Tora, I would say that we are no longer in our era… _Her beast trailed off, both of them realizing that whatever had happened to them had pushed them into a new era of sorts.

_Shit _was her only thought before she sighed _well might as well learn and try to fit in, for now _her beast grumbled. Sliding back into the trees, Tora focused her energy and changed her form slightly; covering the markings on her face and making her claws turn into that of human fingernails.

She glared at her hands in disgust before hiding her demon aura and scent; she then ripped her clothes up and gave herself a couple of scratches before limping into town, making it seem like she was injured. A couple saw her and rushed over "oh my god! Are you alright?" a girl cried.

Tora breathed heavily "please, I was attacked; I don't know where I am. Please help me" she cried, her eyes pooling with tears of despair. The girl wrapped her in her arms and guided her down the street with the old man who was with her trailing behind them.

The girl brought Tora to a building and guided her inside, once inside she flagged down someone in a long white cape of sorts "please, she got attacked, I don't know any more than that" the girl told the man. He nodded and had two other people bring over a strange contraption.

The girl holding Tora guided her to lie down on the strange device before the people scurrying around her, wheeled it, and her, down the hall and out of the girl's view. _What the hell is this thing? _Her beast asked her _I have no idea_ Tora answered with unease.

Something was stuck in her arm, looking down she noticed a needle attacked to a strange device which seemed to pour liquid of some sort into her arm. She looked up at the man with the white cape before her vision when blurry and she slipped into darkness once more…

Waking up once more, Tora gasped and shot up into a sitting position, only to notice that she no longer wore her ripped clothing and instead wore what looked like a tunic, but she could feel that she wore nothing else and that made her feel decidedly uncomfortable.

Looking around she noticed that the girl who had found her was standing by the door, talking to the old man, when they noticed her staring; the girl entered "are you feeling alright?" She asked Tora sweetly, Tora deemed it that she could act like she didn't remember anything "what happened? Where am I?" She asked her eyes wide.

The girl gave her a look of sympathy "you were attacked yesterday and you're in the hospital, the doctor says that your injuries aren't that serious and that you can go home today" she said, but trailed off when she noticed the look of despair on Tora's face.

"Home?" Tora mumbled, fear and anguish engulfing her "I don't even know where that is" she whimpered, for once speaking the truth. The girl looked surprised "do you remember your name?" She asked her, Tora pretended to think and dig through her memories before she reluctantly answered "I- I think my name is Tora"

The girl smiled softly "well Tora, if you want, you can come home with me till you can remember where your family is" she said. Tora closed her eyes as memories that had actually repressed came up to the surface "my family…" she whimpered "my family is no longer here" she said softly, tears filling her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

Tora heard a gasp before the girl turned towards the old man, her eyes wide with distress, Tora heard her talking to him before her voice rose "please grandpa, she doesn't have anywhere else to go" the old man sighed before nodding. The girl smiled before turning to Tora

"Well, if you want you can come live us, my name's Kagome" she said. Tora blinked in surprise, her eyes wide "r-really?" She asked, surprised that they would just offer like that. The old man stepped forward "it wouldn't do well to let a young girl as yourself to wander around without a home" he said.

Tora almost snapped at him that she wasn't a young girl, but then caught herself, as she remembered that she looked like she was a teenager to these people "that's- that's very kind of you" she said, still acting like a fragile girl that she really wasn't.

_At least we have somewhere to stay and can learn how to act in these strange times _her beast grumbled as the man with the white cape came back in, Kagome turned "she's alright to leave, right doctor?" She asked _so that's a doctor_ Tora thought, filing that away for reference.

The doctor nodded "after the nurses come back and remove the syringes and give her some clothes she'll be free to go…" the doctor paused "does she have any family we can notify?" He asked quietly, thinking that Tora couldn't hear which if she was a regular human she wouldn't be able to.

Kagome answered just as quietly "no, her family is apparently dead, that's about all she can remember along with her name, first only though" she told the doctor. He nodded and looked at Tora "what is your name dear?" He asked her kindly. Tora wanted to bristle but didn't "may name's Tora… I can't remember the rest" she added, after hearing Kagome say she remembered her first only.

The doctor nodded before a woman entered the room "you called doctor?" she asked. The doctor nodded "can you get Tora some clothes; she'll be going home with these people" he told her. The woman nodded before turning and leaving the room again. The doctor turned to the old man and Kagome "well I have to go check on other patients, but when you get to the front desk, let them know that I told them it's okay for Tora to leave with you guys" he told them.

Kagome nodded before the doctor turned and exited the room. Tora sat on the bed, running her hand through her hair as she waited for the woman, who she assumed was a nurse, to come back with clothes. It didn't take that long before she came back with strange clothes. She set them down next to Tora and left the room with the old man.

Tora looked at Kagome "can you help me? I'm still a bit sore from…" she trailed off, Kagome, thinking along the lines of what Tora wanted her think, immediately nodded "of course!" she said as she walked over "first, let's get you out of the hospital gown" she said.

Tora continued to file away the names of clothes as Kagome chatted, saying things like "now time for the pants" seeming to just want to mindlessly chatter while she helped Tora dressed. Tora remembered how to put everything on, especially the shoes, acting like she was to sore to bend over to get Kagome to tie her shoe lace as she called them.

After getting dressed the nurses came in to check that everything was in order before allowing Tora to leave with Kagome, Kagome standing right next to her for her to grab onto incase she fell. Tora stumbled slightly from exhaustion, as she felt tired even after sleeping for a day but managed to not fall over.

_Well, into the future we go _her beast grumbled as they climbed into a contraption outside the hospital, Kagome chatted about how this… car looked liked a friend of hers, not knowing that Tora was storing all of this new information away in her head to use.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha! Forgot to add that on my last chapter, but figured**

_Chapter 1_

_This future maybe hard to adjust to, but you have to admit, they have some really handy things available _Tora's beast mused. It had been two weeks since Tora had shown up in the future, from poking around she found out that she was 500 years in the future from where she originated.

She also found out that there were many things that were at the ready, like food and baths. In those two weeks she, despite trying to keep her distance, had actually grown fond of Kagome. The girl seemed to chatter non-stop but she had a good heart and good intention, when they were together it usually went with Kagome talking and Tora just listening with a small smile of amusement.

_They do_ Tora agreed with her beast as she got dressed, today would be her first day going to 'school' as Kagome put it, they had let her adjust to this new life for two weeks before saying she needed to go to school, much to Tora's dislike. She and her beast both agreed that the school uniform was designed for boys to peak up a girl's skirt, they were to short in her opinion, even for this time.

Grabbing the bag that Kagome had called a backpack, Tora made her way out of the room that had become hers in the past two weeks, it had previously been used for just random storage, but Kagome, Souta, Grandpa, and Kagome's Mother had helped her with moving the boxes and other items to another unused room. They then set up a makeshift bed until they were able to get a hold of an actual bed.

The bed as they called it, had confused Tora as she was used to sleeping on futons, but she wasn't one to complain, as it was comfortable, and plus she had to appear as if she knew what these things were, and so far she was managing to do so, even going to the point where she read the books that Kagome had put into her backpack. Most of the stuff she grasped easily, others not so much.

Tora shook her thoughts away as she slipped into the kitchen, her black hair swinging from it's usually ponytail with the bangs framing her face. Kagome looked up as she entered, her eyes brightening as she smiled at Tora "morning" Kagome said before turning back to her breakfast. Tora couldn't help but smile softly before sitting down as well and digging into the plate that had been set out for her.

The two of them ate in relative quiet until they were both done, then Kagome hummed as she stood up and went to retrieve her backpack "you coming Tora?" She asked over her shoulder. Tora let out a sigh before picking up her own backpack and following her friend, after thanking Kagome's Mother for the food and then exiting the building behind Kagome. _And the torture begins_ She thought sourly to her beast who only hummed in response.

Kagome, like usual, chatted the entire way to the school, only stopping when a group of girls came running up screaming her name in happiness. "Kagome-" One of them started before stopping when they noticed Tora beside their friend. Immediately suspicion came into their eyes "whose this?" one of them piped up. Kagome huffed "this is Tora, she's staying with me" she said with a smile on her face while her friends continued to eye Tora.

Rolling her eyes Tora huffed "I'll see you later Kagome, going to get my schedule" she told her before brushing past her friends roughly "but Tora-" Kagome started before her friends interrupted "who is she? Why is she staying with you?" Tora stopped at the entrance, realizing she didn't know where the office was and huffed again before leaning against the wall, waiting for Kagome to show up.

Unknown to the girls Tora heard everything they were asking as they continued to ask questions about her, but unlike others she was used to people talking about her, being a demon and all, but she still wasn't expecting the next question she heard. "What's wrong with her?" That seemed to set Kagome off as her own voice rose in pitch and was laced with anger. "There is nothing wrong with her!" Kagome snapped at her friends "she is just suffering from losing her family, she is staying with me because her home is gone, and she is a friend of mine!" she growled.

Tora heard one of the girls huff out an irritated breath "but what's with her hair? I haven't seem someone with hair down to their but in a long time. Not to mention the style" her friend asked, not paying attention to the fact that she was pissing her normally cheery friend off, Tora hid her smirk as she heard Kagome huff out a breath of her own as she waited till they stopped talking to then answer the questions with her own answer.

Kagome practically growled at her friends "there is nothing wrong with her hair! Now assuming your done interrogating me about my new friend, I think I'll go help her find the office." Kagome spat at her friends before pushing past them and making her way to Tora, noticing that Tora seemed relax as she gazed around the school grounds, her head tilted. Tora spoke, making sure her voice was even "they were talking about me weren't they?" She asked without a hint of surprise in her voice.

Kagome watched Tora with slightly sympathy, knowing that lying wouldn't help "yes, they were, but don't worry about them. Let's get your schedule" she said, hoping to get Tora's mind off of the girls, thinking that Tora was just hiding her sadness behind a relaxed facade. Tora hummed and followed Kagome, her mind wandering to questions and thoughts about what school is like. _Guess we'll find out_ her beast commented dryly almost making Tora chuckle.

By the time the two of them reached the office Tora had managed to bring herself to the present and stop talking to her beast in order to smile at the principle and get her schedule. The principle gave Kagome a note, allowing her to show Tora her classes and then head to her own. As they walked through the school Tora looked around, her head tilted in wonder, something that Kagome caught on to. "Have you never seen a school before?" She asked, surprise in her voice.

Tora flushed at getting caught but answered smoothly "my home town was extremely small so we didn't really have a school. We were either taught by our parents or met together in one of the unused buildings to be taught there." she told Kagome, thanking the gods that she hadn't told her about her school life before. Kagome blinked but nodded and accepted the explanation. _That was close_ her beast warned her gruffly.

The day passed quickly and slowly at the same time, but what Tora noticed was that most of the girls in the school seemed to stare at her in distrust because of her hair style, huffing Tora ran a hand through her hair, it was held in a ponytail by a white ribbon near the base of her skull, most of it that is. It went down to her butt, swaying with each step. Her bangs went from being short, resting above her eyes, to extremely long, stopping at her breasts, framing her face.

She knew that her type of hair style wasn't common but she didn't care enough about others opinions to change her hairstyle, and she didn't want to just to fit in with some stuck up snobs. When lunch came around Tora was outside, sitting alone next to a tree, no one seemed to want to come up to her, not that she minded. Humming softly to herself Tora ate the lunch that Mrs. Higurashi had packed for her; she jumped as someone plopped down next to her "feeling lonely?" Tora had to laugh at Kagome's voice "maybe" she teased as she smiled at the hyper girl.

The two of them talked and laughed for about half the lunch before Kagome looked down "I know you want to avoid the topic… but I've seen the way you look at Souta, did you have a younger brother?" she asked Tora. Tora sighed and set her lunch down as she brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. "Yes I do-did. His name was Akai. He was the sweetest boy you could meet, unless you messed with his family" she said with a small smile.

Kagome listened without interruption, feeling slight tears at the description of the boy. "He came to my chest, tall for his age but not many noticed, what they did notice was his hair, his hair was black with white streaks, although I think it was just light blonde but he said they were white so I let him say that. His hair went to about his chin, but unlike other's it actually complimented him. His eyes were a light, sky blue color that seemed to light up in happiness whenever something caught his eye."

Tora felt tears well up and brushed them away "he was such a sweet boy… I don't know what happened, all I know is that I came home to find them dead and then someone attacked me. He didn't deserve to die, he didn't deserve what happened to him" she whispered, sadness lacing her voice. She felt Kagome wrap her arms around her in comfort and didn't shake off the arms, she normally would do so but she didn't want to at this moment, remembering her brother's scared eyes as Ankoku held him in his grasp.

After a few moments Tora took a shaky breath and wiped away the tears "thank you Kagome" she whispered softly as she looked at the girl beside her. Kagome smiled at her "I'll always be here if you need me Tora" she told her. Tora nodded and looked around as she heard a bell ring across the yard. Sighing she picked up her backpack and grabbed the remains of her lunch to throw it away, she had eaten the lunch although she didn't need it, considering she was a demon.

The rest of the day passed quickly, and soon enough Tora was waiting at the entrance to the school for Kagome, she spotted the hyper girl making her way through the students when she was once again crowded with her friends, Tora turned her head away to cover her face with her hair as she heard one of the girls speak "Kagome, I don't think you should hang out with that Tora girl, she seems a bit unstable if you get my meaning"

Tora heard Kagome's intake of breath before her reply came, her voice low and deadly "I've had enough, you don't decide who my friends are, I'm friends with Tora, if you don't like it then too bad. I'm sorry to disappoint you but you can stop trying to dissuade me. Oh, and if you insinuate that Tora is insane again or insult her again then you can say goodbye to our friendship" she hissed at her friends.

Surprised by what Kagome said, Tora quickly covered her reaction as Kagome approached "hey Tora" Kagome said brightly. Tora couldn't help but smile at her "hey Kagome, ready?" She asked her. Kagome hummed as they started walking, talking about this or that, not really talking about anything in particular, both agreeing to avoid the subject of Tora's family after her small break down at lunch.

Mrs. Higurashi greeted them from the kitchen "how was school?" She asked the two of them. Kagome sighed "my 'friends' seem to think that Tora is a little off her rocker" Kagome said, tossing her backpack onto the floor by the door. Tora snorted "I could say the same about them" she muttered under her breath as she set her own backpack down. Kagome grinned at her as Mrs. Higurashi sighed "teenage girls are always like that when they see someone who doesn't dress the same as them." She said simply.

Kagome chuckled "that they are" she agreed before she opened her backpack to grab whatever homework was thrust upon her that day. Tora sighed and did the same, both girls sitting down at the table and going over their homework. Tora struggled to understand the concept of the class known as Math, along with Science, but with quick help from Kagome she managed to grasp it despite not taking any prior math classes in her lifetime. _This is surprisingly easy _Tora mused, her beast only huffing out air, not bothering to reply to her.

Once homework was done Kagome stretched "hey Tora, want to go shopping?" She asked the black haired girl who was putting her stuff away. Tora didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about but decided to just go with it; it would probably mean learning more about this future era. "Sure" she replied "should we change out of our school uniforms?" She asked, hoping Kagome would say yes. Kagome laughed "ya, I'll meet you at the front in ten minutes" she told her.

Tora nodded and walked to her room, she slipped inside and went through the small amount of clothes she had. She picked up a pair of black shorts that ended about mid thigh, along with a white tank top. Humming she put on some shoes and made her way to the front door "bye Mrs. Higurashi" Tora called as she exited the building, hearing a faint "have fun" from inside. Tora spotted Kagome in a pair of blue jeans and a red shirt and made her way over. "Ready?" Kagome asked her, Tora nodded affirmative.

The two of them made their way away from the shrine where the Higurashi family resided and towards town, Kagome chatting the entire time they were walking, only stopping when Tora answered a question. The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon going through stores, Tora learning what was what and who this was. They both managed to get a new outfit and a new pair of shoes. Tora hummed softly as her thoughts drifted _you know, I have never spent this much time with another girl_ She thought in surprise, her beast chuckling in agreement _well where we come from, the other female demons want to kill us _her beast put in.

_Good point _Tora agreed before focusing on what Kagome was talking about now, which seemed to be along the lines of ramen.

A few days later Tora was getting ready for school and walked into the kitchen, stopping when she noticed that Kagome was nowhere to be seen. Mrs. Higurashi noticed her hesitation and spoke up "Kagome's not feeling well so she's staying home" she said with a sweet smile. Tora nodded and grabbed her backpack, still feeling a bit uneasy about all this; Kagome hadn't shown any signs of illness the day before.

Shaking away the feeling Tora made her way to school, not caring that others stared at her or talked about her. Once inside her first class she sat back and stared out the window, wondering how in the world she was going to get home when she didn't even know how she got here in the first place. Like always the day passed slowly and quickly at the same time, the classes went by fast but walking through the halls seemed like an eternity with all the students watching her.

By the time she got back 'home' she was a bit irritated, as she had heard every comment about her. She normally didn't care but when there are comments coming from left and right it tends to get under your skin eventually. Tora opened the door and slipped into the living room, she unconsciously scented the air, her eyes narrowing as she realized that Kagome's scent was fading slightly, like she wasn't even in the house. _Isn't she supposed to be sick? _Her beast rumbled, just as confused as she was.

_That's what her mother said_ Tora agreed before placing her backpack down and sitting down as well to do the homework. Mrs. Higurashi came inside, blinking as she spotted Tora "hey Tora how was school?" She asked the young girl. Tora shrugged "it was okay" she replied, not mentioning about all the insults, as she wasn't supposed to be able to hear them, any normal human would have just seen people talking in groups like normal.

Mrs. Higurashi hummed "well school is school" she said with a small shrug as she made her way towards the kitchen. Tora went through her homework quickly and then went out in search of Kagome, she found out that her scent wasn't coming from her room; the most recent scent was leading towards the shrine where the well resided. Furrowing her brow in confusion Tora studied the well before sighing and making her way back towards her room, deciding to just laze around for the rest of the day and hope that Kagome showed up soon.

_Never realized how boring this world actually is _She grumbled, her beast huffed out a breath _that's because you've had that human girl to occupy your time _her beast replied back in a matter-of-fact tone. Tora wanted to growl but figured that would just scare the family in the home so she just sighed but didn't comment; knowing that what her beast said was completely true. After about half an hour she sat up _there isn't' anything to do _She thought with a huff.

_You could try and sniff around for a way to get back to our era _Her beast said, Tora could practically see her beast raising an eyebrow. _Your right, okay, happy now? _She asked her beast with a silent growl before she stood up and changed out of her school uniform. She slipped out of her room "I'm heading to the library" she told Mrs. Higurashi before slipping out of the house. She thanked whatever gods there were that Kagome had showed her the library and the internet.

Although Tora had been careful to not seem like she didn't know how to work the internet, but she surmised that she knew enough of how it works to accomplish what she wanted. Making her way towards the library that was just down the street from the shrine, Tora hummed a tune that her own mother used to hum to her all the time. Tora stopped walking next to a small pond and looked down into the water, staring at her reflection; she could practically see the tiger that lay within.

Tears threatened to spill as Tora remembered the first time she ever shifted to her demon form…

"_Momma! Momma!" The wail of a small child rang throughout the trees, a tall woman with white hair bolted towards the sound, her eyes wide with fear. She came upon a small child with black hair and brown eyes. "What is it my sweet child?" The woman asked. The young girl bit her bottom lip "I- I think there's something wrong with me!" she wailed. Her mother automatically soothed her and picked up her daughter. "Now why would you think that?" she asked her daughter._

_The young girl whimpered "because, I was staring into the lake and I saw a tiger instead!" She whimpered. The mother hummed "my dear Tora, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. It means that your starting to grow up" The girl, Tora, blinked at her mother in surprise "you-you sure?" she asked her mother. The woman smiled softly "I'm sure, you're a demon Tora, a powerful one like your parents, and every demon like us has a human form and their natural form. Your natural form is that of a tiger" she explained._

_Tora listened with a tilted head. "Do- do you think I could…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say, but her mother understood, she set her daughter down and crouched down. "Just picture that tiger you saw the in lake in your mind and will yourself to become that tiger" Her mother explained. Tora nodded and closed her eyes, once again seeing the white tiger that had stared back at her in the water, and then she tried to become the tiger._

_After a few moments she felt her body shifting, her bone structure changing and her skin itched where fur started growing out. After a few moments she opened her eyes to see her mother watching her with pride in her eyes "why look at you, you beautiful girl" her mother whispered. Tora purred softly and spotted a puddle, she looked into the puddle to see a white tiger staring back at her, the same exact one at the lake, except she noticed that there seemed to be blue flames going down her spine and covering her tail, along with on her paws and shoulders._

_Tora looked at her flank to see the black stripes going down her flank, she grinned, showing off her white fangs before she looked at her mother. Her mother hummed and shifted to her own tiger form, but, instead of white tiger her mother was a brilliant silver tiger with black flames on her body. Tora smiled and bolted over to rub against her mother's front paw, her eyes shining with love…_

Tora blinked away the memory, closing her eyes as she pushed away the tears, her mother had died years ago, protecting her cubs from an extremely powerful dog demon. Tora huffed and continued walking, her mood darkening with the memory as she slipped into the library. _Let the research begin _Her beast grumbled, just as depressed as she was by the unexpected memory.


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Tora growled again in agitation, for the past few weeks she had surmised that Kagome had spent more time being sick than at school, and it was annoying her as she couldn't scent Kagome in the house what-so-ever. This particular day there was no school and Tora was sitting in a tree near the well, trying to occupy her time.

Her head jerked to the side as she heard noises inside the well house, narrowing her eyes she waited for whatever was in there to come out, she froze as Kagome peaked out of the well house, obviously not spotting Tora, as she then exited the well house with a large yellow backpack on her shoulders. _Seems like she wasn't sick after all_ her beast growled to her, agitation in its tone.

_Wonder what she's hiding_ Tora growled to herself as she waited till Kagome was right beneath her before dropping from the tree to land in front of her friend, her arms crossed "well hello" Tora said, her head tilted. Kagome had jumped back in shock and a yelp of fright till she realized who she was talking to. "Oh, umm hi" she said, her eyes wide. Tora narrowed her eyes "I thought you were 'sick'" she said, putting air quotes around the word sick.

Kagome opened and closed her mouth as she tried to come up with a reasonable excuse, which blew out the window when she heard a noise from behind her and then the familiar voice. "Kagome!" Tora growled under her breath as the scent of a hanyou hit her nose before the said hanyou stepped into view. He froze upon spotting Tora who was watching him with narrowed eyes and tense muscles. He took a deep breath and caught a whiff of demon; causing him to stiffen as well as he gazed at the girl.

"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha growled at Tora, his posture threatening and hand on the hilt of his sword. Tora huffed "I could ask you the same thing mutt!" she snapped at him. Kagome looked between the two "Tora… what's he talking about?" She asked. Before Tora could answer though, Inuyasha spoke up "you mean to tell me Kagome that you don't realize what she is?" He growled at the girl. Tora laughed at that "of course she doesn't, I've hidden my appearance, my aura and most of my scent. Although from what you've already proven, there's still enough to pick up on what I am if you have an extremely sensitive nose" she said.

At that Kagome froze as she looked at Tora, her eyes wide "what are you?" she asked Tora quietly. Tora grinned at her, her fangs now starting to show as she let her facade slip "take a guess" Tora said simply as her nails started to lengthen to claws and the white fire mark on her forehead came out in stark contrast to her skin, along with the small flames on her cheeks, her body changed as well while her hair stayed the same. Kagome gaped at her before Inuyasha lunged forward with his sword.

Tora growled, her eyes glaring red as she stepped to the side, faster than the human eye, letting the hanyou fly past her. Kagome screeched "Inuyasha! Stop that, she hasn't attacked!" the girl said, her eyes flaring with anger. Tora examined her claws as if she was bored while Kagome yelled at Inuyasha about how he shouldn't attack others if they don't attack first. After a few minutes of waiting Kagome finally turned back to Tora who had a smirk on her face after watching a hanyou take orders from a human.

"What are you doing here?" Kagome asked her eyes narrowed as she looked at Tora. Tora shrugged "I actually have no idea, I technically was attacked the day you met me but I wasn't hurt that bad, I inflicted those myself so that I could learn about this world. Most of my family is dead, but my brother, as far as I know, is not. I don't know how I got here, all I know is that I was fighting another demon and he did something and then I ended up here" she said, her head tilted as she searched through her memories to see if she missed anything.

Kagome had a hand on my forehead, trying to process all this. "So… you're a demon who has been pretending to be a human?" She questioned, Tora rolled her eyes "I thought that much was obvious" she grumbled under her breath. "Yes, I'm a demon who has been pretending to be a human while trying to return to my own time, the feudal era" she said in her normal voice. Tora watched as Inuyasha glared at her from behind Kagome as he spoke "well sorry, can't help you" he sneered.

Before he or Kagome could react Tora was in front of Inuyasha with her claws around his throat "don't you dare play dumb with me mutt! I know you haven't been living here as this is the first time I've scented you in this era, so I know that you have a way back to the feudal era" She snarled in his face, her eyes bleeding red with anger. She heard Kagome behind her before the girl spoke "let him go Tora" glancing over her shoulder Tora spotted the girl holding a bow and aiming an arrow at her.

Sensing the purifying power in the girl Tora growled under her breath "go ahead, let loose the arrow, then you'll kill both me and this filthy hanyou" she challenged Kagome; she spotted the flicker of uncertainty in Kagome's gaze and then the dread. "Thought as much" Tora said before turning and shoving with her arm, sending Inuyasha flying across the courtyard to hit a tree with a dull thud. Tora looked at Kagome, her eyes still bleeding with anger but also a plea for help "you heard me talk about my brother Kagome, I have to get to him!" Tora said

Kagome seemed to falter at that, she had seen the raw emotion in Tora's eyes as she spoke about her brother and had watched as Tora broke down for a good twenty minutes. Kagome lowered her bow but didn't put the arrow away "are you even sure he's in danger?" Kagome challenged, Tora started pacing as Inuyasha came up, and he remained quiet, despite wanting to kill the bitch for what she did. Tora groaned "I'm pretty sure he is, for he was there when I was fighting the demon, that demon grabbed a hold of my brother and used him to try and control me, till he did something and I ended up here! I have to get back and find Akai before something happens to him that I can't undo!" She said, desperate now, her beast whining on the inside with need to protect family.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha "I can't just tell her no" Kagome said as Inuyasha glared at her, his eyes full of irritation "why should we help her!? She basically attacked me!" he raged. Kagome growled at him in her own human way "she's stressed with worry for her brother and you didn't help by being aggressive towards her! I'm going to help her whether you agree or not!" She snapped at him, Kagome turned back to Tora "I'll have to tell my mom so she can arrange to have your school enrollment canceled and to explain why you're no longer going to be here." She told Tora before turning and stalking off towards her house.

Tora continued to pace, her mind flitting between different possibilities, her beast whimpering on the inside _we're finally going to get back! _Her beast said, happiness and anticipation laced in the voice. Tora growled in affirmative, ignoring Inuyasha's look _that we are, and get back at Ankoku for what he has done! _She declared before turning at the sound of footsteps, spotting Kagome walking towards her "come, let's go" she said as she once again went towards the well house. Tora was a step behind her, Inuyasha following her, his eyes wary as he watched the demonness.

Once inside the well house Kagome held out her hand to Tora "I don't know if the well will let you through unless you're holding on to me" she said. Tora eyed her warily but placed her hand into Kagome's, making sure not to hurt the girl with her claws. "Kagome… just to let you know, I wasn't pretending to enjoy your company" Tora told her briefly before Kagome nodded and jumped with her into the well. The feeling of weightlessness was brief before they set down on ground again.

Tora looked at Kagome "care to let me help?" She offered, Kagome chuckled "if ya want" she said before Tora grabbed her arm and jump up and out of the well to land next to it. Tora looked around; her eyes glittering with satisfaction "I'm home" she murmured as she scented the wind, Kagome watched her with a small smile. Tora turned to Kagome as Inuyasha emerged from the well, she bowed "thank you Kagome, if we cross paths again and you need any help feel free to ask, you've helped me more than you know" she said to the girl with a small smile.

Kagome nodded, she knew that at the moment Tora had other obligations. Tora gave a cool glare to Inuyasha before she turned and bolted off into the forest, jumping from one tree to another, her mouth open to scent the air and sensing any aura's that were nearby, checking for signs of her brother or of Ankoku.

~ A week later ~

Tora growled in anger, she had been traveling for days on end and still had no sign of her brother or an Ankoku. Sitting down next to a stream Tora stretched her sore muscles and let herself relax for the first time in days. It wasn't long after when a scream of a young girl broke the air. Tora shot up and sent out her senses, her eyes widened as she recognized the aura of her brother, bolting towards the sound Tora hoped to whatever god there was that her brother wasn't attacking anyone.

She whimpered as she came over a hill to see what looked like a ten year old girl and a green imp cowering away from a large white tiger, much like she was, except instead of blue fire and dazzling blue eyes, its body was covered in red flames and gleaming red eyes. Tora growled as she recognized her brother from scent and sight. She bolted forward and lunged, transforming as she did so to ram into her brothers flank right as he raised his paw to swipe at the two victims.

When looking at the two tigers, those around could tell the difference between different colored flames and size, the tiger with blue flames was larger and, most likely, stronger than the other tiger. The tiger with red flames hissed and backed away, his eyes glaring before he scented the air and recognition went through his eyes, Tora snarled and stood between him and two beings who would have become his victims. She watched as her brother suddenly stiffened and his ears flicked behind him.

Tora felt the aura of a dog demon approaching behind her but didn't worry about that demon and neither did her brother as he turned and bolted away. Tora snarled and chased after him, her blue eyes dancing with anger, not at her brother but at Ankoku, as she had a feeling as to what compelled her brother to run and attack. She came to a skidding halt as her brother transformed to his human form, wearing a long black kimono and standing to the slight left of anther hooded figure, his own clothes black. Tora shifted with a snarl "Ankoku!" She spat.

The said male chuckled "hello Tora, seems like sending Akai to attack some innocent being did draw you out. I sensed your presence here but couldn't pin point where you were" he said, his voice sending chills down Tora's spine. She looked at her brother "what did you do to him?" She whispered, horror creeping through her blood at the implications. She heard Ankoku chuckle "what I wanted to do to you months ago, I bound him to me so he has to follow my orders" he said.

Tora growled angrily, her fingers clenched. Ankoku hummed "now the downside is, I can't kill Akai or threaten to do so to get you to agree, the best I can do for now with you is a bond that compels you to follow my orders." He said as Tora spotted a gleam in his eyes that sparkled under the hood. Tora took a small step backwards, none of the three demons noticing the dog demon that was fast approaching and extremely mad that anyone would attack his ward or servant.

Before Tora could follow what happened, Ankoku threw some sort of spell at Tora that hit her on the left side of her stomach and rebounded towards Ankoku. But before it could hit that particular demon, a flash of silver zoomed into the picture and attacked the hooded demon.

Tora whimpered as a bright light caused her to cower and look away from where Ankoku had been. Once the light disappeared she looked back to see a silver haired demon standing where Ankoku had been, Tora searched the clearing desperately with her eyes but her brother and Ankoku had disappeared from view. She growled in anger and twisted to ram her hand into the trunk of a tree, watching the bark splinter and heard the tree groan in protest. "God dammit!" She hissed as she leaned against the tree.

Sensing a presence behind her, Tora whirled around to see the silver haired demon standing a few feet away, his eyes narrowed as he watched her. She huffed "may I help you?" She hissed at him, not caring who or what he was. He growled at her "I recognize your scent, it was near my ward and servant" He snapped at her. Tora tilted her head in confusion before she thought back to when she found her brother "oh, you mean that girl and the imp, ya well just to be clear I didn't attack them or aim to, I was aiming for the demon who was actually responsible for doing so" she said simply.

The demon glared at her "and who is responsible?" He asked her. She rolled her eyes "why should I tell you?" she snapped as she took in his scent, _great, a dog demon_ her beast grumbled. The demon growled deep in his chest "you will answer me!" he ordered her. Before Tora could respond with one of her sarcastic remarks the left side of her stomach gave a twinge of pain, she gasped and bent over, grabbing her stomach, she hissed in annoyance as her body pushed her to answer the demon.

"Fine! His name is Ankoku!" She snarled out, immediately the pain disappeared, she leaned against a tree, her brow furrowed in confusion before horror spread across her face "oh good god, please tell me he didn't do that" she muttered. The dog demon had stepped back in confusion and was even more confused by what she said "what are you muttering about?" He growled. Tora threw him a scorching glare "if I'm correct in assuming what Ankoku wanted to do, he tossed a bonding spell at me, it was designed to hit me and bound back in the direction it was cast, once it hits whoever is standing there, it bonds the two. The one who was hit first is then compelled to follow any orders given" she said, her voice getting quieter.

"Please tell me you weren't standing where Ankoku was when the spell rebounded!" She exclaimed, the demon remained impassive while inside he was growling in annoyance. Tora hissed "only one way to find out if you're not going to answer" she said as she lifted up the shirt she still wore from the future, stopping cold at the white crescent moon that covered the left side of her stomach, matching in shape of that on the dog demons forehead. She moaned and let her shirt fall "great, this is just great" she growled sarcastically.

The dog demon huffed "trust me, I'm not exactly happy about this either" he muttered. Tora crossed her arms "of all the demons in the world, it had to be a dog demon! Of course it had to be a dog demon!" she complained as she started pacing back and forth, of all the demons in the world, she hated dog demons the most, for two reasons: a) she was a cat, cats and dogs usually don't get along, b) her mother was killed by a dog demon.

Before she could continue her rant the said dog demon spoke up "quiet!" His voice was cold and sharp, and much to Tora's displeasure, the bond forced her to snap her mouth shut while she glared at the demon who stared back with some amusement on his face. "To be clear _kitty_, I don't like this anymore than you do, but if you keep complaining about it I'll bring an end to your life" he warned, surprised when a smirk formed on the girls face. "What are you smirking about?" He snapped.

Tora couldn't help it, she started laughing "you really think that this bond would allow you to do so, in a sense, I have to follow your orders, but in return you can't kill me" she said with a sneer, watching as the dogs mood darkened with each word she spoke. A growl came from him, before she could move he lunged forward and pinned against a tree. "How do you know that?" He snarled at her, his eyes dancing with anger. Tora glared at him, trying to get him off of her but he didn't budge and had her effectively pinned against the tree.

"I know this, because I had spent a good dealing looking up on bonds when Ankoku made his intentions to bond me to _him _known." She hissed at him. She felt his hand on her throat and could see a mental struggle, he wanted to desperately tighten his grip and kill her, but the bond wouldn't allow him to do so. He growled in annoyance "how do you break this bond?" He demanded. Tora's brow furrowed "umm… the only two ways I found I doubt either of us really wants to use" she muttered. He growled "tell me" Tora was intending to answer so the pain from before from not answering didn't come up.

"Well, umm, one of them is either of us dies…" a growl showed his displeasure with that option, since he didn't want to die and he couldn't kill her himself. She figured his reaction to the next was probably going to be worse "or the two who are bonded mate" her voice was quiet, she watched as he froze at that before his eyes darkened "so you're saying that unless someone kills either of us were stuck with this bond?" He asked, his voice cold and deadly low. She resisted the urge to shiver at the sound "basically" she muttered, her own annoyance shown through her voice.

The demon pushed away and started pacing back and forth "how far can you be from me?" He asked her. She crossed her arms, staying against the tree. "Unless you order me away from you on a mission of sorts, I have to be within 300 feet of you before the urge to go back to you takes over" she said, a frown on her face. "And the mission has to be reliable, can't be to find some unknown power source or whatever" she said with a small smile. He huffed "can't I just order you to stay away from me?" He asked her, his own annoyance shown through his normally impassive mask.

Tora rolled her eyes "you can try, but within a week I'll be compelled to find you and return to your side" she said. He growled before turning and walking off. Tora sighed and followed, staying well behind him, far enough to not be close to him, but not far enough to cause discomfort for her. _This is just great_ her beast grumbled sarcastically, Tora rolled her eyes _I know, I mean I so TOTALLY wanted to be bonded to a fucking DOG demon_ she responded, as equally sarcastic as her beast was. She snapped out of her thoughts when the demon before her spoke "What's your name?" He demanded, Tora so wanted to answer him sarcastically but figured it would be better to just answer for her sanity.

"Tora" She said, her voice curt before her head tilted "can I know yours?" She asked, figuring it would be better to know his name then call him dog. He turned his head slightly to look at her slightly before answer "I'm called Lord Sesshomaru" At that Tora stiffened _great, just great_ she thought, she had heard of Sesshomaru and of all the demons it had to be him. On top of that, her mother had been killed by his father, she remained stiff as tension and anger came off of her in waves.

He must have sensed it because he suddenly turned and whipped around, his eyes narrowed "what's bothering you now?" He snapped. She glared at him, her eyes glittering with fire "oh, just the fact that I'm bonded to the son of Inu no Taishou!" She spat, Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed even further as he walked towards her with a dark aura "and what do you have against my father?" he snarled at her, his own body tense.

Tora kept her ground as she bared her fangs at him "oh, just the fact that he killed my parents!" She hissed at him, Tora and her brother had been alone for hundreds of years because of that incident; her brother had been a newborn cub when her parents had died. Sesshomaru stopped and stared at her, he had heard his father talking about two tiger demons who had gotten in his way on a mission and he had to dispose of them. He stared at the tiger demonness standing before him and could tell that she spoke the truth "I'm not my father!" He snapped at her.

She snorted "you're just as cold and cruel as he is!" She snapped back "if I had a guess, if my brother, although I don't care about Ankoku, but if those two had stayed you would have killed my brother as well as Ankoku!" She growled at him. She turned away from him and fought the urge to lunge at the dog demon, knowing that it would not be a good idea, for one, he was stronger than she was and it would probably end with her being hurt. The bond may prevent him from killing her, but that didn't stop him from hurting her if his intent wasn't killing her.

Sesshomaru didn't have anything to defend himself, as she was right, if the two other demons had remained he would have killed both of them. But he narrowed his gaze at her "judging someone because of their parents isn't exactly the right way about doing things" he growled at her. She turned towards him with murder in her eyes and he was sure that if she thought she could win, she would have lunged at him at that moment. "Ya well, I don't care. I'm stuck bonded to a dog demon, and of course, that dog demon is the son of the one who took my parents away from me, away from my brother before he even had a chance to know them!" She snarled at him.

Huffing out a breath Sesshomaru turned away and continued walking, remaining silent as he didn't have anything else to say. Tora stayed behind him till the bond forced her to follow him, she hissed at the pain and picked up her pace to make the pain go away, but she remained where it disappeared, not wanting to come any closer to him than necessary.

She continued walking and emerged into a small clearing where a two headed dragon lay near the edge, the young girl she had seen before was sitting beside a small fire with the green imp. The imp spotted her and jumped up "Lord Sesshomaru!" He cried, Sesshomaru turned his face to see Tora before looking at the imp "she's with me Jaken, I won't explain fully but something happened and the two of us are now bonded" he said simply, his voice detached and devoid of emotion.

The imp, Jaken, immediately looked at her with murderous intent "what have you done?!" He cried. Tora growled and let her aura crackle, letting the imp know that she wasn't some petty demon "I have done NOTHING, I don't want this bond anymore than he does!" She spat at the imp as she sat down in the shadows of the clearing. The imp glared at her "you're just saying-" before he could finish the sentence Tora was next to him and holding him in the air by the throat "don't you dare think I'm lying!" She hissed "why would a tiger demon like myself want anything to do with dog demon!" she snarled at him.

Before Jaken could reply Sesshomaru spoke up "Tora, drop him" He ordered, Tora growled but let the imp fall onto the ground with a 'thump' before Sesshomaru spoke again "and Jaken, she isn't the cause of this bond" he said before going back to leaning against a tree and watching the clearing. Tora turned and stalked to the edge of the tree line to sit against a tree, glowering at the dog demon or the imp who had returned to the young girl's side.

The young girl watched Tora with big brown eyes; after dinner was made and eaten she warily made her way over towards Tora. The tiger demon watched the girls progress with hidden eyes, her head aimed down so it looked like she was sleeping. "Umm… Tora?" The young girl said sheepishly. Tora raised her head; her eyebrow raised "yes?" She asked her voice neither friendly nor hostile. "Are you the one who saved Jaken and Rin?" she asked, Tora's brow furrowed at the wording but shrugged it off "yes, that was me" she replied simply. She spotted Jaken looking over in shock and staring at her, she smirked at him "what, surprised that a FEMALE is that big of a demon?" She sneered at the imp.

The imp huffed and looked back at the fire. The girl, who Tora thought was Rin, brightened at her affirmative to her question "well, thank you!" The girl squealed, causing Tora to wince and quickly bring her hands up to her ears, Rin immediately noticing and quieting down "sorry" she said sheepishly. Tora nodded and let her hands fall back onto her lap.

Humming an unknown tune, Rin started spinning in a circle, Tora watched her, noticing how the girl seemed a bit dirty, but she felt her heart ache. As Akai used to talk a lot and be as active, that was, until Ankoku came into their lives. Deep in her thoughts Tora didn't noticed that Rin was standing next to her till the young girl tapped her shoulder, causing her to whip her head around. Rin smiled "Tora, do you want to play with Rin?" She asked her. Tora's brow furrowed again at Rin's use of third person before she shook her head "I don't play" she said simply.

Rin had a downcast look for a split second before she brightened, "well you can watch Jaken and Rin play" she said before speeding off to coerce the imp into playing with her. Tora huffed and sent out her senses; she heard a river nearby and figured she might as well wash herself off. Standing up she slipped into the trees, the river was only a hundred feet or so from the clearing so she didn't have to worry about feeling discomfort from being away from that blasted dog demon.

Once at the river she stripped down, setting her clothes on a rock and jumped into the river, it was a slow current and was only waist high so she wasn't worried about being swept downstream. She dunked her head under water and scrubbed her hair, despite not having any soap it still felt good to let the dirt and gunk of the past week float away. Once her hair was done she scrubbed at her body, getting the dirt off and then she grabbed her clothes.

Washing her clothes took a little time, but she figured she should get clothes appropriate for this era sometime in the future. She froze while cleaning the pants as she sensed something nearby, growling she put the pants on the rock next to the rest of her clothing before she turned, shifting to her tiger form as she did, her eyes blaring with anger and ready to attack, only to freeze as she met the impassive face of the notorious dog demon.

She huffed out a breath and glared at him, wondering what he was doing here. He must have known what she was thinking as he spoke "just thought you'd want to know that were leaving in the morning" he said, his eyes glittering slightly, letting her know that he had seen her while in the water. She let out a low growl before turning and heading back towards her clothes, her tail tip flicking back and forth in agitation. She gave one last look over her shoulder to see Sesshomaru walking away before she turned to her wet clothes and used the heat of her flames to quickly dry the cloth.

Shifting again and quickly putting her clothes back on, Tora made her way back towards the clearing, muttering curses under her breath about how dog demons should die in the pits of hell.


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Tora spend most of the time traveling on the edge of the allowed radius, until they made camp, then she would come to the edge of whatever clearing they were in and sit against a tree.

It was on the second week of traveling when she felt the pangs of hunger set in, being a tiger she could go long periods of time without eating but even she had to eat, and since she didn't eat human food she had to go hunting "This is just fantastic" she muttered sarcastically as she slipped out of the clearing they were currently in and started pacing, she couldn't sense any animals in the vicinity, which irked her because she would have to go beyond the radius allowed.

While she was pacing Tora didn't notice that Sesshomaru had followed her and was now leaning against a tree, watching as she paced. When she finally noticed she turned with a deadly glare "what do you want?" She hissed at him. He smirked at her "don't think I haven't noticed that you haven't been eating for the past two weeks, and I have to say, I was waiting for you to start freaking out about what you should do since there is no prey within the 300 feet radius" he said simply.

Tora growled at him "ya well, am I allowed to go hunting or not?" She snarled at him, he watched her with a look of amusement on his face. "Now why should I allow that?" He said, finding that he enjoyed watching the cat fume with anger or irritation. She huffed and turned her back to him as she continued to pace "you're a fucking cold-hearted bastard!" she snapped at him, not noticing when his eyes narrowed at the comment.

She froze as a low growl came from him, she refrained from rolling her eyes and turned around with her arms crossed in front of her "oh, did I offend you?" She said in fake surprise "I'm so fucking sorry" she snapped sarcastically, part of her mind was telling her to back off and just let him vent whatever he wanted, but she ignored that part of her mind and continued to push buttons.

Sesshomaru watched the tiger demonness, his anger growing. Before he could stop himself, he lunged forward and pinned the offending female to a tree, growling deep in his chest with warning. "Be careful where you step _kitty_" He growled in her ear, feeling her trying to get him off, but even with just one arm he kept her pinned against the tree easily. "This Sesshomaru doesn't take too kindly to someone disrespecting and insulting him" he snarled at her, his eyes bleeding red.

Tora knew when she had pushed too far, but like always she tended to ignore the part of her brain that tells her to just back down. She glared at Sesshomaru, baring her fangs at him "Well maybe I wouldn't be so _disrespectful _if you weren't such an asshole!" she snarled back at him, gasping in surprise as he pushed her closer to the tree, her back rubbing uncomfortably against the bark. She growled in annoyance as she instinctively tried to arch her back away from the bark, only then realizing that she was getting closer to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru had been about to reply to her last statement when she moved, obviously trying to get away from the tree bark that was no doubt digging into her back. He smirked, his eyes glittering with both anger and amusement as she arched her back unconsciously, pushing herself closer to him. "Comfortable?" He asked, one eyebrow raised at the question as he watched her. She just bared her fangs at him and jerked her body away from his "quite" She snapped at him.

Sesshomaru watched her for a few seconds "now listen here _kitty, _I expect respect if we are going to get along. Otherwise we may find ourselves in this predicament quite often" he growled. She glared at him "well _Lord _Sesshomaru, I happen to only give respect when it is earned!" She snapped at him, her voice turning to that of a mocking one when she said the word lord "not when it is demanded by some pompous asshole" she growled, grumbling the last part as she just wanted to get out of this situation already.

Sesshomaru growled and tightened his hold on her throat; his intent wasn't to kill so the bond didn't interfere yet. Tora gasped as her air supply was cut off, instinctively her hands came up and grabbed onto his own hand, trying to pry if off of her throat. Sesshomaru watched her struggle for a few moments till he loosened his hold, watching again as she took in air before glaring at him, but there was wariness in her eyes now.

Staring at her with eyes void of any emotion he waited for her to look away. Tora glared at him, staring into his eyes, she knew what he was waiting for, for her to look away in a sign of submission, and she wanted to growl but knew that would be a mistake. After a few moments she let loose a low grumble in her throat that wasn't any type of words before turning her head and looking away from Sesshomaru, her body tense and quivering as the only other demons who could make her submit were her parents.

Her hands clenched into fists at the noise of approval that came from the dog demon. He let her go and stepped away from her "go get something to eat, don't need you dying on me" he told her before turning and walking back towards the clearing. Tora stood there for a few moments, her body shaking in complete and utter anger before she shifted and bolted off into the trees, letting loose a roar of anger and agitation, which she was sure that Sesshomaru heard.

She continued to run till she couldn't sense Sesshomaru at all, only then did she slow down and scent the air for any signs of prey. Like most demons, she would occasionally hunt another demon for food, especially the ones that couldn't change forms. Not scenting any normal prey like regular animals she growled, but then let it turn into a purr as she scented a bear demon _this will be fun_ her beast cooed happily. Slinking through the undergrowth in the direction of the bear demon, Tora felt her mouth water at the possibility of getting something to eat.

She spotted the bear demon, it seemed to be feasting on something, and she curled her lip as she caught the scent of human blood. She hated eating humans and didn't understand how other demons found the taste appealing. She let out a growl and saw the bear demon stop and looked around, probably sending out his senses. Tora managed to hide in the shadows despite her white pelt, but now she stepped into the light, she was bigger than the bear demon and emitted a stronger aura.

The bear growled and bared his teeth anyway, not backing down because she was a female. She knew that no sane male would back down from a fight with a female, even if the female was stronger and could easily kill them. She growled back and unsheathed her claws before lunging forward at the bear, letting loose a roar that shook the trees around them. She rammed into the chest of the bear as it reared up to meet her. She dug her claws deep into the bears pelt and ripped downwards, creating large gashes that started to bleed heavily.

She roared in pain as the bear retaliated with a wound on her shoulder, she twisted away and crouched a few feet away, ignoring the pain in her shoulder at the moment, watching the bear as he tried to ignore the pain, but considering that there were five large gashes on both of his sides it was hard to ignore. She waited till the bear chanced a glance at one of his sides to lunge forward; both of the demons were unaware of the golden eyes that watched them from the trees. Then again the third party hid his scent and aura from the two demons.

Tora managed to shove the bear over onto his side and started to tear into him with her claws and teeth, her blue eyes shining with mirth and malice. The bear started thrashing, trying anything to dislodge the large tiger that was ripping him apart with its sharp claws and deadly fangs. Tora growled after a while and let her flames heat up and started to rise up. The bear screamed in agony as the flames licked and burned at his skin.

Tora lunged with her head, catching his neck in her jaws and clamped down near the spine. Because of her size, her jaws also managed to crush his wind pipe, slowly suffocating him to death. The bear tried to ward off the attacks with feeble blows, his strength disappearing from the lack of air and blood loss. After a few moments the bear stopped moving but Tora didn't let go till she heard the thump of his heart stop.

Only then did she let the throat go and she started to circle the bear, a low growl coming from her throat, she was putting her scent on and around the bear and growling for the demons in the area to know to stay away, this was her kill. After a few minutes of that, Tora crouched down and started tearing into the carcass. Her senses still alert as she made sure that she wouldn't be attacked while eating, unlike other demons she didn't block out everything when she was eating, as she knew that was when she was at her weakest.

The demon watching tilted his head before turning and walked off, making sure to keep his scent and aura a secret as he moved off. Tora continued to eat till her stomach was full, once that was clear her mark started to itch and urge her to head back to Sesshomaru, she growled and whined, as a tiger her instinct was to remain near the kill for days, occasionally snacking on it to keep others away and build up her strength. If she could, she would bring the carcass back with her, but the bear was just too big to carry that far.

Grumbling as the itching started to turn to pain she turned and stalked off, her tail lashing back and forth in agitation as her lips twitched. A foolish fox demon crossed her path, she swiped at it in anger but the demon quickly bolted away from her attack and into the undergrowth. Tora continued walking till the pain and itching faded away, once that went away she lay down and started to clean herself, knowing that there was blood on her forepaws and muzzle, on top of that her shoulder was throbbing from pain.

Her ears twitched as she heard movement coming towards her and turned her head to see Sesshomaru walking with Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Un behind him. Sesshomaru tilted his head as he looked at the white tiger that came into view, there was blood covering her forepaws and muzzle and her shoulder was still bleeding from the wounds that resided there. He noticed that she seemed to have been cleaning herself as one of her forepaws was halfway clean. "Have a good hunt?" He asked her. She merely huffed and turned her head away and went back to cleaning her forepaws.

Rin peeked around Lord Sesshomaru and spotted the tiger, she recognized Tora from when she had saved her before and her eyes went wide as she noticed the wound on Tora's shoulder. "Tora your hurt!" She cried as she bolted forward, to the tiger's side. Ignoring how Tora cringed away from her, her ears gong flat against her head and claws digging into the ground. Tora merely huffed again before relaxing and going back to cleaning, she knew that her wound would heal shortly, being a demon and all. But Rin was still worried about the wound "Lord Sesshomaru we have to treat the wound!" the girl begged, turning to gaze at her lord with wide, pleading eyes.

At that Tora turned and shifted "whoa, slow down, it will heal shortly, no need for any treatment" she said, a bit too defensive in her statement. Which, of course, caught Sesshomaru's attention "what, scared of herbs?" He asked. Tora gritted her teeth in anger "I prefer not to have any dealings with herbs of any nature" she growled at him "nor will I discuss why that is so with you" she snapped at him before she tilted her head "where are we going now?" She asked.

Sesshomaru merely smirked at her defensiveness before dropping the subject "nowhere in particular, but I sense my brother nearby and I could do with a good fight" he mused as he tilted his head. Tora furrowed her brow before sending out her senses, she picked up on Inuyasha's aura and broke out laughing "oh, that mutt" she said with a chuckle as she imagined the look on the half-breeds face. She looked at Sesshomaru to see him looking at her with a furrowed brow "how do you know that filthy half-breed?" He demanded.

She grinned at him "long story short I got stuck in the future, the mutt and the human he travels with helped me get back here" she said with a shrug as if it didn't matter how she knew the mutt. Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at her, she rolled her eyes "come on, you can't seriously think I'd do anything with a half-breed!" She said, her nose wrinkling at the prospect "I'd rather mate with a fucking worm demon before I mated with a half-breed" she growled as she rolled her eyes.

Before Sesshomaru could speak up Jaken did "how dare you speak to the Lord Sesshomaru like that!?" He screeched at her, she bared her teeth at the insolent little imp before shooting forward and kicking him in the face, causing him to go flying back into a tree. "Shut up imp!" Tora growled at him, making to go after him when Sesshomaru shot his hand out and grabbed onto her wrist "leave him" Sesshomaru growled at her, his eyes narrowed, as if he was waiting for her to disobey him.

Normally she would have ignored his order but the itching in her side started up and with a growl she turned away from the imp "fine" she snapped as the imp waddled up to them, carrying a staff that was too tall for him. The imp smirked at Tora and once again opened his mouth "glad someone can control you" he sneered. Tora whipped around to glare at him "why you-" she started before stopping as Sesshomaru turned around to turn a dangerous eye on his servant.

"Jaken, if you don't want her to kill you I'd shut your mouth, next time I won't be as kind as to stop her" he said in a voice devoid of emotion, causing Tora to smirk at the imp, a deadly gleam in her eyes. The imp blanched and cringed away from her. "What were you saying?" Tora asked him sweetly, a vicious gleam in her eyes. He swallowed "n-nothing" he stuttered "that's what I thought" Tora growled before turning away from him "so are we going to intercept your filthy half-brother or what?" She asked Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru just looked at her before continuing to walk with a small "Hn" rolling her eyes, Tora followed him, her beast purring at the prospect of a coming fight _not that the bear wasn't a good fight, but I need more! _Her beast complained, causing Tora to chuckle at her beast. _I agree with you, I'm itching for a fight, a real fight _She agreed as the smell of the hanyou and the human got closer, but this time there was the smell of two demons and two more humans in the mix, her nostrils flared as she caught the scent of a fox demon and some sort of cat like demon. She curled her lip at the second one but didn't say anything.

Before they got to close Sesshomaru stopped and turned "Jaken, take Rin and Ah-Un to the pond nearby and wait there for mine and Tora's return" He told the imp, who immediately bowed and started leading the dragon demon towards the pond with Rin resting on its back. Sesshomaru looked at Tora and spotted the wild gleam in her eyes, he raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, only turned and continued towards the scent of the hanyou.

He started using his youkai to make a cloud under his feet and shot off towards his half-brother. Tora started running, shifting as she did so. In her tiger form she managed to keep up with Sesshomaru while he was in the air. Inuyasha's scent came closer and closer as she bared her teeth, ready for a fight that was fast approaching. She heard Inuyasha growl as his brother lighted down, before anyone could speak though, Tora trotted into view behind Sesshomaru, a feral grin on her face.

Both Inuyasha and Kagome stared at her in surprise before Kagome spoke "Tora!? What are you doing with him?" She exclaimed, shock in her voice. Tora rolled her eyes and shifted to her human form "long story short I ended up bonded to him in some way" She said with a shrug of her shoulders. Feeling amusement as Kagome gaped at her, her eyes wide "you're bonded to Sesshomaru?" it was Inuyasha who asked that question, causing Tora to roll her eyes in irritation "that's what I just said" she snapped at the hanyou.

Inuyasha stiffened and growled at her before Sesshomaru spoke "don't dwell on things that don't concern you half-breed" he said in a low voice. Tora backed away to study the rest of the group, she spotted a monk in purple robes and felt her hackles rise, wondering what a holy person was doing here. She then switched her gaze to the human next to him; she studied the clothing and felt her lips twitch as she wanted to snarl at the 'demon' slayer that stood before her with what looked like a big boomerang on her back.

Switching to the two demons, she spotted the fox demon kit easily, hiding behind what looked like a small cat demon, but Tora had a feeling that the cat wasn't all that she seemed. Tora hummed and shifted almost lazily, stretching her forepaws in front of her as Inuyasha barked insults at his older brother before a question caught her attention. "What are you doing here anyways Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha growled.

Sesshomaru merely tilted his head "you are heading towards this Sesshomaru's lands, and it seems you have forgotten to make sure you are allowed to enter them" Sesshomaru answered in a bland voice. Tora kept her surprise hidden before she turned and started circling the clearing, her boredom apparent, she kept notice that the monk, the demon slayer, and the cat kept her in their sites, turning as she did, while Inuyasha and Kagome focused on Sesshomaru _foolish humans, Sesshomaru's the greater threat_ her beast said with a purr.

_How insulting, thinking that I'm not that great of a threat to these filthy humans!_ Tora snarled at her beast, stopping in her pacing as her eyes bled red a little bit as she argued with her demon, she didn't notice when the cat demon shifted in a swirl of fire to that of a large saber tooth like creature. After a few minutes Tora withdrew from her argument with her beast to study the group again, only to blink in surprise as she realized that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were now engaged in battle. Tora felt an itch in her side as she spotted the demon slayer about to throw her weapon at Sesshomaru.

Letting loose a roar that shook the trees Tora lunged forward at the demon slayer, her claws coming out of her fur paws to glisten threateningly in the sunlight. The monk and the demon slayer whipped around in surprise at the large tiger coming towards them. Tora sensed rather than saw an attack coming from her side, she twisted her agile body to turn and meet the new threat with her claws and teeth. She met the cat demon claw for claw and fang for fang.

Despite the cat being large, Tora still dwarfed her considerably. She heard the demon slayer call out in a panicked voice "Kirara!" as Tora pinned her to the ground with her fangs bared, then Tora spoke "if you know what's good for you demon, stay out of this!" Tora hissed at Kirara "or I might just go after that pathetic fox kit" she snapped before shoving the cat away and then started pacing around the monk and the slayer, her ears flat against her head and teeth bared.

The slayer had a tight grip on her weapon, looking ready to attack "you damn demon! How dare you side with him!" The slayer growled at her. Tora growled right back "you make it sound like I had a choice!" Tora snapped at her, her mouth not moving but her voice heard, Tora hated talking in her demon form but she wouldn't stay silent when they accused her 'siding' with the dog demon. The monk tilted his head "what do you mean by that?" He asked her. She huffed "like I would tell you!" She growled at them.

Before either the demon slayer or the monk could respond to that Tora bellowed in pain as something pierced her side, the one that was facing away from the two humans in front of her. She twisted to spot the cat demon once again, blood on one of its forepaws and a long scratch from her shoulder to her hip. Tora hissed and lunged, only for the demon to jump into the air and out of her reach, roaring in anger and pain Tora paced back and forth, her gaze fixed on her prey who stayed high above where she paced.

Her beast growled before breaking free from its cage and taking over, everyone stopped as they felt a great amount of energy coming from the tiger demon, even Sesshomaru turned with a furrowed brow. Once he saw the red eyes where he would usually see glowing blue eyes he backed up in surprise. Inuyasha watched his brother "what's happening?" Inuyasha demanded. Sesshomaru chuckled "someone has royally pissed of this tigress, and her demon has taken charge of her actions" he said simply "I think I'll sit back and watch what happens" he said, content to see what this tigress could do.

Inuyasha watched the tigress as the flames on her body began to grow and bleed red on the base and blue at the top. He heard a mew of pain and looked up to see Kirara trying to jump higher into the sky but a tendril of fire had shot up and wrapped around one of Kirara's paws like a vice. Inuyasha jumped forward, raising Tessaiga and slashing at the demon tigress. Tora merely turned her head and flared her fire even more, watching as her flames caught around Tessaiga and stopped its momentum and that of Inuyasha's as well.

The hanyou looked at her wide eyes as she bared her fangs and lunged at him, releasing Kirara as she did, realizing that this hanyou was a great foe than the small cat. Kagome and Sango ran to Kirara as she landed, holding her injured paw above the ground, Sango flinched as she saw the burnt flesh around the ankle of Kirara's hind left paw. Kagome got to work, healing the injury as best she could. Kagome turned to Sango after a little bit "I'm sorry, but a scar will remain, the skin won't heal all the way" Kagome said.

While the two humans conversed Inuyasha found himself pressed to defend himself, he realized that this tigress matched that of his brother in power, her eyes glowing red in anger. During one of her attacks he spotted a long gash on her side and figured that the wound had set her off in her anger. He knew that anger usually caused someone to make mistakes in battle but for the tiger, her anger brought out her beast and her beast was extremely accurate in her attacks. Inuyasha's eyes widened as he heard Sango call out "Hiraikotsu!"

Tora's beast heard it as well along with the wish of air; she twisted her body to avoid getting hit by the oversized boomerang as it flew a hair's breadth away from her shoulder. Tora landed and turned her head slightly to keep Inuyasha in her sights but also be able to look at the demon slayer. She noted the anger in the girl's eyes and the tension in her eyes. Tora's beast started speaking; her voice low and dark, letting everyone know that this was Tora's beast talking. "Care to explain why you seem so angry at me? I don't remember doing anything to you that would incite this type of reaction" she said, her head tilted in thought.

The demon slayer shook as she pointed at Kirara "you injured my friend! She now bears a scar because of what you did!" Sango growled at her. Tora let loose a growl of her own, this one sounding more dangerous and carrying more anger. "She injured me first!" Tora snapped at the demon slayer, turning to fully face the girl, her tail lashing in anger. Sango looked like she was about say something else when she caught site of the long gash on the tigers left side, going from the shoulder, where four claw marks already resided, to her hip. The wound still bled a little and looked like it was painful.

The wound was too long to have been made by Tessaiga; on top of that, Sango hadn't seen Inuyasha land on hit on the tiger. Before she could speak anyway Tora continued "and if you friend hadn't tried to speed up the healing process with her miko powers then the wound would have healed without leaving a trace" she sneered at the demon slayer. Tora knew that her fire could leave scars if she willed it, but she had injured the cat with the thought in mind to cause pain but not to scar, it was only because Kagome had sped up the healing process that a scar formed.

Sango looked taken back before her eyes darkened and her hand tightened on her weapon before Inuyasha spoke up "Sango don't! You'll just entice her. This isn't Tora your dealing with, this is her beast!" He said, slight panic in his voice for his friend, but Sango didn't pay attention, thinking that because she was a demon slayer she would be fine, along with that she didn't think that the tigress was as strong as Sesshomaru. In a split second the boomerang was flying through the air towards the tigress that nimbly avoided the weapon and watched it as if it was a bug that was on her shoulder.

"Something so slow couldn't touch me" Tora sneered at the slayer, toying with her. Tora's beast knew that if she kept prodding at the slayer with jibes and remarks about her fighting that the slayer would end up making a mistake that would be fatal for her. Sango's eyes darkened in anger at the statement and the moment she caught her weapon she sent if off again, with more force behind her throw, finding that her frustration continued to build as the tiger avoided the weapon once again.

Tora felt decidedly bored with the slayer, the half-breed was more entertaining than this retched human. When the boomerang came around again, Tora slashed out with her claws, hitting the boomerang on the flat side, sending its course into a wild frenzy, to land away from the demon slayer, who gasped and ran towards her weapon, only to be stopped as Tora jumped in front of her, her red eyes gleaming with a murderous intent in the orbs. Tora stalked towards the human as she backed up, her glance bouncing around the clearing, she could see Miroku on the edge of her vision, the hand without the wind tunnel on the beads as if debating on whether to use the wind tunnel or not.

He wanted to, but Sango was too close to the tiger for him to use it without hurting the slayer. They all froze as a voice cut into the thickening tension "Tora… stop" causing everyone to look over at Sesshomaru who was leaning against a tree with his arms closed, his eyes bland of all emotions. The tiger let out a roar of irritation and anger as she strained against the command. Inuyasha watched in surprise and shock as the tiger started thrashing around with every able part of her body, hitting at some place on her body that seemed to be in pain.

Sesshomaru spoke again, his voice harder and edged with command, his eyes sharpening. "Tora, stop this now!" He snapped out. The tiger whined and whimpered for a few more moments before the red in her eyes gave way to the blue that was normal for her in this form. Tora breathed heavily as the searing pain her side disappeared, leaving a dull ache as she moaned and pushed herself up to sit and shake her head to clear her head. Her beast was back in its cage and grumbling _what the hell did you do? _Tora demanded, her beast hummed _only wanted to teach those filthy humans a lesson _her beast said sweetly.

Tora looked around in a hurry, feeling relief that no one was dead, but she spotted the slayer's weapon laying about 50 feet from her and the monk was standing next to the slayer, watching her with apprehensive eyes. Tora shifted to her human form and backed up, her eyes wide "what did I do?" she muttered to herself as she put a hand to her forehead, she couldn't remember what happened after her beast had broke from its cage and shoved her into a cage of her own, but one where she couldn't see or do anything.

Sesshomaru spoke up "you were proceeding to try and kill the slayers life" he said simply, Tora turned to look at Sesshomaru "and I suppose the ache in my side explains that you're the one to have stopped me?" She asked him, he merely inclined his head to show that she was correct in her assumption. Inuyasha spoke up, his voice puzzle "okay, so if I'm correct in assuming what I think is happening, you two said you were bonded, and that bonds makes it so that Tora has to follow your orders Sesshomaru?" He asked. Sesshomaru smirked "quite right" he said as Tora huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, muttering something about stupid dog demons.

Sango seemed to come out of her surprised stance to glare at the tiger demon "you still injured my friend!" She hissed at the tiger. Tora turned her gaze to the demon, raising an eyebrow "care to explain, considering the fact that it was beast that did so, not myself" she said with a shrug. Sango growled "don't you play coy, you were there watching this entire time" She snapped at the demon. Tora's eyes flamed in anger as she moved quicker than the human eye to stop right in front of the slayer, towering over her with angry eyes. "Don't you ever and I mean ever assume where I was when my beast takes over!" Tora hissed at her.

The slayer seemed surprise at this, "why, everyone knows that when a beast takes over the demon is still able to see what's going on" She said, annoyance in her voice. Tora bared her fangs at the slayer "only if the beast allows it! When the beast is in control it can choose whether to let the demon see what's going on or to blind them to everything that happens" She snapped "I'd expect a 'demon slayer' like you to know this, but apparently I was wrong in assuming that one such as you is a real demon slayer" she sneered before turning and stalking away from the woman, leaving Sango glaring at her.

The girl took a step forward before the monk stopped her "Sango, if her beast was anything to go by, that tiger is not one we want to get tangled in. Just drop it, Kirara is in no pain and is still able to fight" he told her quietly. Sango ground her teeth but realized he was right, the tiger demon was a formidable opponent, probably as dangerous as Sesshomaru. Tora stalked into the forest to start pacing out of sight of the group, but still within the radius _care to explain why you flipped out _Tora demanded of her beast.

Her beast snorted _that cat deserved it! She attacked us with no provocation! _Her beast growled at her. Tora growled right back _we've been injured many times in the past, so what's so special about this one time we were injured! _She demanded. Her beast remained quiet for a few moments before answering _the wound hit the mark_ it said simply and softly. Tora stiffened before looking down, realizing that her beast was right. She growled in anger as she looked at the wound that cut down the middle of the crescent moon, because of the bond, her beast had been compelled to fight back when something hit the mark.

Tora growled as a few moments later she stopped pacing and leaned against a tree as a wave of light headiness crashed over her, she closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her wound "shit" she moaned as she realized that she had lost more blood than she had originally thought. She turned and started making her way back towards the clearing, going slow, feeling her wound still bleeding, she growled in pain and stopped to rest against a tree, she hadn't gone too far from the clearing but it felt like she had walked for hours away from them.

Sesshomaru was still studying the group as they tried to absorb the information when his head jerked to the side, in the direction that Tora had gone, the bond told him that something was going on with Tora that wasn't good. He growled, surprising Inuyasha and the rest as he set off after Tora, his body tense and spine stiff, following her scent, noting that there was blood mixed in with it as well. He spotted her leaning against a tree, her eyes shut tightly closed and hand pressed to her side.

He spotted the blood dripping down her side and let loose another growl of anger, if he could he would let her die but the bond wouldn't let him do that since it was in his power to save her. He walked over to her; she slumped against the tree, taking deep breaths as if she was trying not to faint. Sesshomaru huffed in agitation as he picked her up, hearing her whimper in surprise and pain at the movement.

He turned and walked back the way he had come, only being in the clearing briefly before heading towards where Jaken and Rin waited for his return. But it was enough for Inuyasha to scent the blood and see that Tora's face was deathly pale, and by the way she was slumped in his brothers arms he realized that she was unconscious. Sesshomaru stopped on the edge of the clearing for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at the slayer who was standing next to the cat who had inflicted the wound on the tiger. "Next time I won't stop her and let her kill you all, this is the result of the fact that the stupid excuse for a cat demon attacked her with no incentive" he growled at them before turning and disappearing into the woods.

Kirara's ears had flattened at Sesshomaru's comment, anger but also realization that she had attacked the tiger with no incentive. The tiger wasn't attacking Sango or Miroku when she inflicted the wound; the tiger had only been making sure that the two didn't interfere with Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. Sango watched them leave before with a snort and going to lean against a tree.

Sesshomaru made quick work of getting back to Jaken and Rin, when he emerged Ah-Un had his head raised as the scent blood his nose, he snorted and watched his lord as he set the tiger who was in his arms down, Rin immediately running over "is she going to be alright Lord Sesshomaru?" The girl asked with worry. Sesshomaru nodded "Jaken, take Rin to go search for some flowers" He told the imp, a glint in his eye that told the imp no arguing. "You can collect some flowers for when she wakes up Rin" He told the ten year old girl.

The girl nodded and ran off, dragging Jaken with her. Sesshomaru sighed and kneeled next to the tiger, he knew that gathering the herbs needed would take too long, he huffed and raised Tora up, taking off the shirt that she wore, he studied the wound, it was pretty long, staring at her shoulder and going to her hip. He leaned down and licked part of the wound at the shoulder before pulling back, watching as the wound healed itself wherever the saliva hit.

Curling his lip with distaste, he continued on till the wound was completely healed, along with the marks from the bear. During the process he had noted that the wound had gone through the mark on her stomach and figured that was why her beast had come out with a vengeance. Once the wounds were healed, he retrieved and extra cloak from Ah-Un's saddle bag and wrapped it around the tiger, knowing that her clothes were ruined. "Stay here and watch over the tiger, I'll be back" he told the dragon demon before bolting off with speed…

Tora groaned and rolled over onto her side, before freezing as no pain went through her body, as she had rolled onto her left side. She sat up and froze as she realized that she was no longer wearing the clothes she had on when she returned, instead she was in a red kimono, she looked around and noticed that a pile of undergarments and bindings that usually go around the chest were next to her. She stiffened as she then turned her head to spot Sesshomaru standing on the edge of the clearing, watching the sky or watching the ones that rested in the clearing.

She sighed, placing a hand on her forehead, she still felt a little light headed, but she stood up, grabbing the clothes and walking into the trees, grumbling to herself profanities for the dog demon that was behind her. She stopped beside a small stream; her mark had started to give a small itch, warning her that she was approaching the limit of 300 feet. She growled and took off the kimono, placing it gently on a rock next to her. She looked down at the bra and pants that she still wore, seeing them both ruined by blood, she sighed and took off the rest of her clothes.

She would burn them once she was fully dressed once again. She grabbed the bindings and wrapped them around her chest, not to loose but also not too tight. She then put on the undergarments and finally the kimono once again. She looked at the ruined clothes and wrinkled her nose, she brought fire to her palm and set the clothes on fire, she watched as the garments burned and then extinguished the fire with a quick twist of her hand.

She turned around to then let out a yelp of surprise to see Sesshomaru standing there, with a raised eyebrow. She bared her fangs at him "ever heard of privacy!" she snapped, realizing that she should have known he was coming closer, the itch in her side had gone away. He hummed "you shouldn't be walking around" he told her, his voice void of all emotion. Tora snorted "why do you care anyways?" She grumbled, her arms crossing over her chest, feeling the restrictions of the kimono _now I remember why I hated this time sometimes_ she grumbled to her beast who didn't reply. Sesshomaru snorted "I don't care, but the bond compels me to make sure that you don't die" he said, his lip curling up. Tora could scent truth in what he said and chuckled "figured" she said with a shrug before walking past him towards the clearing.

Sesshomaru watched her leave, his beast grumbling _you and I both know it wasn't just the bond that made you check up on her_ His beast sneered at him. Sesshomaru growled at his beast _it was the truth, and nothing more _He snapped, his beast chuckled knowingly but didn't say anything else as Sesshomaru made his way after the Tiger demon, his eyes watching her figure as she walked ahead of him.

His beast once again spoke up _having fun watching her? _His beast taunted, Sesshomaru growled _why are you so admit on this subject? _He demanded of his beast. His beast hummed before he spoke _simple, you may ignore it, but over the past few weeks you've grown a bit… how should I put it?... fond of her company _His beast said simply. Sesshomaru curled his lip up in anger at the words _you are a fool if you say that! _He snapped. Mocking laughter met his statement _I'm your beast Sesshomaru, I am the primal part of you, the part that knows what we want, even if you don't want to admit that _his beast said with a growl.

Sesshomaru growled back and shut his beast away, not wanting to listen to any more of his chattering. But his mind still wandered down what his beast had said…

Was he becoming fond of the tiger he was bound to?


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

**Hey guys, sorry for the late chapter but school started and I've had a tough time adjusting, anyways, hope you like this chapter.**

**So this chapter is going to be mostly with Inuyasha's group and all that, for them puzzling over Tora and all that. But I would like to say thanks and give credit to sangoscourage for the ideas for this chapter and helping me write the story. Just to let you know scourage, you've been an inspiration for the story, I was afraid it wasn't going to be that interesting.**

Inuyasha sat in a tree keeping watch while his mind wandered over what had happened earlier that day. He wasn't all that surprised that Tora's beast had blocked her from seeing what had happened, but it was shocking that her demon would do that. Most full blooded youkai would usually be able to see what they were doing while their demon was in control. Movement from below drew Inuyasha from his thoughts to see that Kirara had sat up and looked to be debating something in her mind.

Inuyasha sighed and dropped down from the tree, he sat down, watching as Kirara looked over at him before she curled up once more but with her eyes open as she stared at the sky. Inuyasha drew in a breath and sent out his senses to make sure that there was no danger in the area. He could faintly pick up Tora and Sesshomaru's auras but they were far off, his mind once again went back to Tora's demon take over. He knew that Sango didn't really believe it when Tora told her that her demon had blocked her out. He sighed and looked down, he knew all too well about how the demon could block you from what it was doing.

When morning came, the group slowly started to wake up and pack up. Inuyasha stayed beside the tree, contemplating what had happened the day before. Kagome noticed it first and spoke up "Inuyasha, what's on your mind?" She asked him, catching the attention of the rest of the group. Inuyasha sighed "I was just thinking about what happened yesterday, with Tora's demon and all" He said, he notice Sango stiffen and roll her eyes, he turned to her, his eyes narrowed "what?" He demanded of her, he knew that Sango was an excellent demon slayer but he hated how she seemed to think that there wasn't any demon that she couldn't take down.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him "I just find it hard to believe that her demon would just block her out like that, I don't think that happens all the time" She said with a wave of her hand, Inuyasha growled at her "don't forget what happens when my demon takes over" he snapped at her. "Like Tora said, every demon has the option of letting the other side see what's going on or not" He told her icily. Sango flinched slightly at his tone and her mind reeled back to the times when Inuyasha's demon blood had taken over.

Watching her, Inuyasha huffed out some air "don't just assume that you know everything about every demon Sango, you may be a demon slayer but you don't know everything about every demon" he told her before turning and continuing to walk forward, his mind still turning over what happened and what was happening.

It was halfway through the day when he stopped as a scent hit his nose. It was that of a bear demon, probably only a day old. Inuyasha growled under his breath as he sent out his senses but didn't pick up the demon's aura, furrowing his brow, Inuyasha tilted his head in confusion. Kagome came up beside him "what is it Inuyasha?" She asked, her own senses scanning the area. Inuyasha hummed "I can smell a bear demon nearby but I can't sense his aura" He said, his brow furrowed in confusion. Kagome hummed as well "should we check it out?" She asked him. Inuyasha thought about it and nodded "I won't feel comfortable till we figure out what is going on" he told her.

With that said, Inuyasha turned and started following the scent of the bear demon, his eyes narrowed as he still couldn't pick up the demons aura, but he picked up the scent of blood and then he stopped in surprise as Tora's scent came up as well. "This just got more complicated" he muttered before he continued forward at a faster pace, wanting to understand what was happening. After a few minutes he picked up the scent of death and it started to make sense as to why he couldn't pick up the bears aura.

Covering his nose at the overwhelming stench he stopped on the edge of a small clearing, staring wide-eyed at the large carcass that lay before him. The rest of the group came up and stopped short in surprise and horror. Kagome looked on with wide eyes, feeling like she was going to hurl. Inuyasha swallowed down bile as he stared around, Sango speaking "why are we here?" She demanded. Inuyasha choked back his breakfast "I picked up the bears scent but not his aura and was worried, but that's not the bigger puzzle that lays here" he said.

Sango spoke again, nearly wanting to just hit him "where's the bigger puzzle piece? What do we need to fit in; the demon was attacked and killed. By a powerful being at that" She said simply with a shrug of her shoulder. Inuyasha turned and stared at her with a bland look "the puzzle piece is that Tora's scent is all over this clearing, just as old as the bears" he told her bluntly, she froze and paled in realization "you can't mean that she… but she couldn't have…" Sango tried but couldn't complete her sentence.

Inuyasha turned and studied the carcass "my guess is that she was hungry and hunted this demon to eat" he said. Sango paled even more "how… how do you figure that?" She asked meekly. Inuyasha walked into the clearing, avoiding the gore "there's what's left of a human here with the bear's scent, so I'm guessing the bear was eating, not really an incentive to attack and kill is it? On top of that the flank of the bear is tore into and meats missing from the demon. Meaning that someone was eating the carcass, and since Tora's scent is the only one here that is as old as the bears I'd say it was hers, before she had to leave." He explained, piecing together what everything was in the clearing.

Sango seemed like she had lost all the blood in her face "but… but that bear demon is huge!?" She exclaimed, Inuyasha raised an eyebrow "and that matters why? You met her in battle yesterday, and I think I can effectively say she was holding back what she could do, that is, until her beast came out. I was hard pressed to defend myself, let alone attack. She seemed to be as hard to beat as Sesshomaru" he said. Sango shook her head "but… but then she could have killed me easily!" she yelped in shock and horror.

Inuyasha nodded "that is precisely what she could do; I think that we are actually lucky that for most cats, they like to toy with their prey or an opponent, which is what she was doing when she was avoiding your weapon, she was merely playing with you. Trying to see what your weakness was and exploiting it to the best of her abilities" He explained. Sango shook her head as she took in all that information, "okay, and note taken. Stay away from Tora" she grumbled under her breath.

Everyone in the group nodded in agreement to that, but Inuyasha had a feeling that they would be running into Tora sooner than they think or want to. When they were walking again, Inuyasha slowed to walk next to Kagome "hey Kagome?" He started. Kagome tilted her head "what is it Inuyasha?" she prompted. Inuyasha sighed "do you think that when you next visit your home you could research tiger's? Demons tend to have the same instincts and primal needs as the animal they can transform into" He told her. She tilted her head and nodded "but why?" She asked, her brow furrowed in some confusion.

He sighed "I just have a feeling that we will see Tora again, don't ask me why I feel that way, I just do" he said before looking around at the forest, his senses going out again to double check there wasn't anything dangerous nearby. Kagome nodded and continued walking, her mind going over the information that Inuyasha had provided, Tora had killed and taken down a rather large bear demon just for food, that had Kagome trying to imagine what she would do to protect herself or those she loves.

Kirara had been resting on Sango's shoulders for the walk, her mind whirling. She knew that there were different structures and being a type of cat demon she could immediately sense that tiger demons were dangerous, which was why there was so few of them, only three or four were ever seen at once. That fact had Kirara on edge, normally there were plenty of one type of demon, unless that kind had the tendency to demand respect amongst their own and attack their own kind if they don't receive that respect.

Kirara shivered slightly but played it off as she stretched out her forepaws and jumped down from Sango's shoulders to walk beside Shippo.

During the course of the day Inuyasha kept his senses up as they searched for jewel shards, they stayed on the border of the western land, not wanting to incur Sesshomaru's wrath anymore than before. When the sun was about to set Kagome turned her head slightly, her eyes darting around "I can sense a jewel shard nearby… but it seems to be constantly bouncing around and never staying in the same place" she told Inuyasha, his brow furrowed in confusion before he sent out his senses again. He hissed out a breath as he picked up the aura of a powerful demon that was traveling back and forth extremely fast, faster than the human eye could keep track.

Before he could make a decision about fighting or fleeing, the demon turned towards them and started racing towards them at high speeds. Inuyasha growled and pulled his sword out of its sheath "be warned, we've got a demon heading our way." He told the others, Sango's eyes narrowed "how powerful?" She asked him. Inuyasha grumbled "that I don't know the aura's confusing" he told her, Kagome stiffened as she pulled out an arrow and strung it, but didn't pull back on the bowstring yet.

After a few moments the demon appeared about 50 fifty feet away from them, covered in a black cloak that hid its face and features. Then a dark voice spoke "why do I scent the demonness known as Tora on this miserable group?" It demanded. Inuyasha growled before Sango could answer "why does it matter to you? Who interact with has no meaning to you" He snapped at the stranger. The demon chuckled darkly "that, is in fact, where you're wrong. Anything that concerns Tora concerns me at the moment." He snickered.

Inuyasha stiffened as another demon announced its presence before stepping into the light. The demon was that of a young boy, with black and white hair, his eyes blank of all emotion but Inuyasha had the sense that this boy didn't like being in the company of the older demon. Inuyasha took in the boys scent and stiffened as he noticed that there were similarities between this boy's scent and Tora's. "Why does having her brother under your control concern her?" Inuyasha asked darkly.

Kagome gasped at what Inuyasha had said, she had studied the boy and realized that the demon matched Tora's description of her younger brother "Akai!" she blurted out before she could help herself. The boy's eyes sharpened and turned towards Kagome, his eyes narrowed "how do you know my name?" He demanded. Kagome swallowed "I… I know your sister" Kagome told him, her eyes wide. Akai faltered at the mention of his sister from Kagome, his eyes going wide. He opened his mouth to speak when the first demon spoke up "quiet!" He hissed at Akai.

Inuyasha watched the boy glare at the older demon before his jaw snapped shut, with reluctance. Inuyasha growled "I see what's going on, you have him under a bond of sorts, much like what happened between Tora and Sesshomaru" that seemed to piss off the older demon while Akai smirked, his eyes shining with amusement and happiness that his sister wasn't in this demons grasp. "What do you mean by that!?" The demon demanded. Inuyasha smirked "now why should I tell you what I mean, you aren't exactly the friendliest demon we've come across" he snickered.

The demon opened his mouth to answer when he stiffened; Inuyasha sent out his senses and sensed Tora approaching, and fast. He turned to face the western lands slightly, still keeping the demon in his sights. It was only a few moments before the tiger appeared, her teeth bared and a growl in her throat. What surprised Inuyasha was that her anger was aimed at the demon he had been talking to, she stalked right on past Inuyasha's group and towards the other demon, her tail lashing back and forth "how dare you come here? How dare you take my brother the way you did?" She snarled at the demon.

The demon laughed "we both know Tora that it was you who was supposed to be in his position, before you fled!" He barked at her. She growled "I didn't flee, you were the one who sent me away, you did something and I ended up in the future you pathetic excuse for a demon" She spat at him.

Inuyasha watched their exchange, noting that Akai didn't seem at all inclined to help the older demon, instead the younger tiger demon walked a circle around the two, his head tilted in thought before speaking "I doubt you'll need my help for this Ankoku" he said dryly, announcing that he didn't want to help at all. The demon, Ankoku, hissed as he turned to Akai "I should make you fight!" The demon hissed. Akai snickered softly "oh, but blood overrules bonds, you know that as well as I do, we would likely only get a swipe in before we would draw back" he sneered at the older being.

Ankoku growled at Akai in annoyance, announcing that Akai was right. The boy turned and walked towards a tree near Inuyasha's group to lean against watch, hoping that his sister would finally kill the bastard. Inuyasha made his way closer to the boy before speaking "what exactly is going on here?" He asked Akai, his brow furrowed. Akai chuckled "a long time feud between these two, Tora had shown Ankoku up in front of hundreds of other demons, imagine that, a female demon showing up a male. No, he couldn't have that, so he made a promise to make her less than him"

Akai said with a grin "didn't turn out like he planned, she evaded him every time he tried to bond her to him" Akai's grin turned to a frown "then he found me, he used me to draw Tora out of her hiding, and I don't understand what happened but one moment she was standing in front of us, and the next she was gone in a flash of light. After that happened Ankoku was furious, I thought he would kill me, but instead he bound me to him like he had planned to do with Tora. He then figured that when she showed up again he'd have both siblings bonded to him" Akai said with a snarl on his face.

"But once again, Tora somehow managed to escape his plans, but from what you said, the bond he tried to make between them, was made between her and another being." Akai said his head tilted in thought at what Inuyasha had said previously. Inuyasha nodded as he watched Tora and Ankoku start circling, Tora in her tiger form and Ankoku in his human, but Inuyasha figured he would transform in no time. They both turned at a cold voice "yes, she is bonded to me" Inuyasha tightened his grip on Tessaiga when he spotted Sesshomaru, standing behind them, watching Ankoku with fire in his eyes.

Akai recognized the dog demon and cringed away from him, he had attacked this demons ward under Ankoku's orders but he still attacked the girl and the imp, and from what he could sense, this demon wasn't one to cross. The dog demons golden eyes turned to Akai at his movement, his eyes calculating "you were the one who attacked Rin and Jaken" He stated, his voice hard. Akai winced at the words, his eyes wide as he watched the dog demon, wondering what he was going to do. "Under normal circumstances I would kill you where you stand… but from what Tora has explained to me and from what I've seen myself, you were ordered by Ankoku to attack and couldn't resist him, so it is he who is responsible for the attack on my ward." He said turning his eyes back to Tora.

Akai turned as well, his eyes going wide as he saw that Ankoku was starting to transform, into that of a large Bengal tiger. Akai was surprised, he had never seen what Ankoku's true form was and the demon had kept his species a secret. But what caused Akai's eyes to widen even further in horror was that Ankoku was larger than Tora, he had known that male tigers tended to be larger than females but he was daunting "no…" he choked out, his fear growing.

Tora watched Ankoku transform, she wasn't scared of how large he was, she had seen him in this form once before and that was when she had humiliated him in front of hundreds of others, she had bested him in a fight, one had clearly thought he was going to win because she was smaller and a female at that. She didn't take into account the tainted stench that surrounded him, announcing he had a jewel in his possession. She bared her fangs at him "you really want to go through this again Ankoku? I bested you the last time we fought" She sneered at him, enticing anger to take control and cause mistakes. He growled at her "but I have more power this time" He sneered at her, his tail lashing behind him. Tora hummed right as Kagome shouted out in panic "he has a jewel shard!" Tora merely tilted her head in acknowledgement before she let her demon loose.

Almost immediately they could sense the change in the amount of power she was letting out, it heightened considerably and her flames glowed red near the base and her eyes went from dazzling blue to sinister red as her demon snarled at the larger male tiger. Ankoku had already let his beast take over, so he only snarled back before the two giants locked in a dance of death. Inuyasha and the rest gave the two of them room, watching as they slashed and bit, Tora lashing out with her flames as often as her claws and teeth. That was one thing she had that Ankoku didn't, the fire was something special about Tora and her family, it was passed down generation through generation.

When Akai noticed that Sesshomaru seemed about ready to jump in, he groaned and grabbed his head "someone please, knock me out" He pleaded, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru whipped their heads around to look at him, and Inuyasha spoke first "why would we do that?" He demanded. Akai groaned again "because, if anyone attacks Ankoku that isn't Tora I'll be compelled to defend him and I'd rather not defend that bastard" he snapped out, gripping his hair tightly between his fingers as his body itched for him to shift and defend his 'master'.

Before Inuyasha could respond Sesshomaru moved forwards and struck the boy on the back of the head with the hilt of Tenseiga, Akai slumped onto the ground, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Inuyasha blinked but didn't speak; Akai had asked to be knocked out. Sesshomaru then turned, he managed to catch Tora's eyes and her demon growled but gave a slight nod in agreement. She slowed her attacks like she was tiring, not a moment later Ankoku lunged forward and pinned her to the ground. She snarled up at him as he dug his claws into her shoulder and flanks from his position above her.

While Ankoku was distracted with Tora, Sesshomaru transformed and lunged forward, despite missing on limb he still was a formidable fighter. Ankoku yowled in surprise as Sesshomaru hit him on his flank; he turned with red eyes to find Akai to notice the boy on the ground beside Inuyasha, unconscious. He growled and tried to attack Sesshomaru only to be blocked by Tora, his eyes glittered with anger as he realized that Tora hadn't really lost energy as she grinned at him in her tiger form.

Realizing that he was outmatched Ankoku bared his fangs before he bolted away from the two giant youkai, on his way he snatched up Akai, despite Tora's roar of outrage as she tried to follow, but the pain of her bond stopped her just 50 feet past the 300 feet area. She let out another roar of anger before sulkily heading back towards Sesshomaru, her hackles raised and tail lashing behind her angrily, her beast was yearning to protect her little brother while her logical mind knew that if he separated from Ankoku while that demon was still alive that he would be in as much pain as she would be in.

The group that was left behind waited as Tora's aura came ever closer to them, Sesshomaru had transformed to his human form, his face an impassive mask while the rest eyed him warily, and wondering what was going to happen now. When Tora came into view, her head was lowered as a keening sound came from her. Sesshomaru didn't say anything and merely watched her. What surprised the rest of the group was when Kirara shifted to her larger form and, with her ears flat against her head in submission, approached Tora hesitantly.

Tora, having taken over after her beast had backed down, looked up at the approaching fire neko. She had at first been suspicious when she sensed the approaching neko who had attacked her when they first met, but was surprised when she saw that the being was approaching her cautiously and in submission. Tora stayed still and waited as the neko approached her. Kirara for her part was scared but knew that she would have to make up with the tiger eventually, or there would be bad blood spilt between the two.

The fire neko stopped in front of Tora, her ears still flat in submission as she cast a glance at the larger cat, she could feel the apprehension from the larger female along with hidden anger. Kirara heard Sango start to call out behind her before Inuyasha cut in, telling her to be quiet and stop talking. Kirara let out a small mew before she suddenly lay down and rolled over, showing her belly to Tora. Tora herself froze in surprise, she had expected something to try and make up for what she did, but Tora had never thought that the fire neko would expose her belly to her, ignoring the exclamation from the demon slayer, Tora gazed down at the fire neko, her expression and eyes blank of all emotion and thought.

Kirara wanted so badly to run, she had never exposed herself to anyone this way, and she waited anxiously for what Tora was going to do now. She was surprised when she felt the wariness fall away and then the slight anger drift away as well. She blinked as Tora started to purr softly and then lowered her head to nudge her muzzle against Kirara's, acting on instinct, Kirara purred back and rolled over onto her stomach, her eyes shining. Tora gave a smile, hesitating a second before she licked Kirara's ear, purring again as Kirara licked her back.

Raising her head and eyes, Tora watched as the group watched them with surprise, well except for Sesshomaru; he remained as impassive as ever. Kirara stood up, and in one last apology, she bumped her head against Tora's shoulder with a small purr in her throat. Tora opened her mind up so that she could speak to the fire neko _**don't feel like you need to pay me back anymore**_ she told the neko. Kirara tilted her head before she answered back _**I still feel bad, I wasn't paying attention to what you were doing and I attacked without need to **_She answered her, her tail tip flicking slightly as she sounded sheepish.

Tora nodded at her before she let out a low purr _**don't be, no harm was done **_she told Kirara before she padded past to the rest of the group, her mind once again going towards her brother. Kirara followed her, the slight tension she held since the attack yesterday eased from her shoulders, she had been debating for hours on what she should do, as she knew that she needed to make up with the tiger demonness and had been debating on whether or not to do it that way or not. She was glad that it was now past her, because she didn't plan on showing her belly to anyone again unless she was attacking them.

Kirara shrunk down to her smaller size and jumped up onto Sango's shoulder, the demon slayer gaped at her in shock "why did you do that!?" Sango asked the fire neko, who only gave a small 'mew' and closed her eyes. Tora spoke up as she shifted to her human form "it was a form of apology for what happened yesterday" she said simply, her voice detached before she turned and walked to stand slightly behind Sesshomaru as the western lord spoke up "if there are any shards in the western land, you can go retrieve them, but once retrieved you leave" he told the group with narrowed eyes.

Inuyasha for once didn't argue and just nodded as he studied the forest around them, he couldn't sense the demon Ankoku or Akai anymore but he was still wary, which was why he wasn't getting angered at his half-brother giving him orders… again. Kagome noticed and nodded as well, hoping that Sesshomaru would just leave and they wouldn't have to battle today. It seemed like luck was on their side, as Sesshomaru turned and started walking back into the western lands, Tora right behind him, her own thoughts occupied at the moment.

Inuyasha turned to the rest of the group "let's see if there are any shards nearby, in the western area while we are here" he said softly. They all nodded as Kagome turned her senses outward, she smiled as she felt the pull of a jewel "I can sense one, so far, to the southwest" she told the group. They nodded and got situated, with Sango, Miroku, and Shippo on Kirara while Kagome was on Inuyasha's back. The group headed out towards the jewel shard, hoping to do something to get their mind off of what had just happened.

~ A few days later ~

Kagome sighed in relief as she arrived in her own time; she climbed the ladder and made her way into her house, planning on taking a long bath and then getting some good rest. She planned on researching tiger's when she could, as she had promised Inuyasha she would do so, she had a feeling that they would need to know more about the tiger that now travels with Inuyasha's brother… although Kagome gathered that it wasn't necessarily a willing choice, by both parties of the two.

After going to school the next day, Kagome made her way to the library, she figured that she would get as much done with learning about tigers as she could. She sat down and turned on a computer in the back of the library, she hummed while waiting for the computer to load.

The moment she clicked onto the internet she started looking up sites with facts about tigers, she knew that although demons acted like the species they were named after they were also difference between them but she was still starting to feel shocked by all that she was gaining by looking up tigers "god… no wonder Kirara made up with her the way she did" Kagome muttered as she looked over the pages.

_ /_

_**Introduction to Tigers**_

_The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest of the four big cats, and one that is very fascinating to people all over the world._

_Tigers are fierce predators with a calculated intelligence that makes them one of the leaders out there in their natural environment. They have been able to successfully evolve from ancient tigers for almost 2 million years and they have kept continually adapting well to their surroundings._

_Most people easily recognize the tiger due to the stripes found on their bodies. These patterns of white and black stripes create very interesting and unique patterns. They give the tiger a coloring that helps them to camouflage amongst the shadow of the long grass._

_**Ruthless Hunters**_

_Tigers are extremely ferocious when it comes to hunting. However, they don't always make the kill as you would expect them to. When they are able to sneak up on prey they only have a few seconds to pounce and to kill them by biting them in the neck area. They can take down animals much larger than themselves if they are healthy and they are good hunters._

_Tigers tend to be loners so you won't see them hunting in groups as you do lions. However, they have been known to share their prey with others which is a good indication that they do communicate with each other on different levels. Tigers are able to leap more than 30 feet which definitely gives them an advantage when it comes to finding and attacking their prey._

Kagome could attest to they tend to be loners, it took Tora a few days to actually start talking to her when she was stuck in the future, it seemed that she only did so because she didn't really have a choice in doing so. Kagome sighed and clicked on another site with more facts about tigers.

_ . _

_The tiger is the biggest species of the cat family._

_Tigers can reach a length of up to 3.3 metres (11 feet) and weigh as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds)._

_Subspecies of the tiger include the Sumatran Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Bengal Tiger, South China Tiger, Malayan Tiger and Indochinese Tiger._

_Many subspecies of the tiger are either endangered or already extinct. Humans are the primary cause of this through hunting and the destruction of habitats._

_Tiger cubs leave their mother when they are around 2 years of age._

_A group of tigers is known as an 'ambush' or 'streak'._

_Tigers are good swimmers and can swim up to 6 kilometres._

_Rare white tigers carry a gene that is only present in around 1 in every 10000 tigers._

_Tigers usually hunt alone at night time._

_Tigers have been known to reach speeds up to 65 kph (40 mph)._

_Tigers can easily jump over 5 meters in length._

Kagome shivered softly, she could start to understand why Tora had the arrogance that she did, tigers were fierce cats and from what several sites continued to say, they were the biggest cats out there. She did notice that it said that males tended to be bigger than females, which did stay with what she had seen when Ankoku and Tora fought, but she guessed that if a female has something worth fighting for than size doesn't matter. She decided to look up one more site just to be sure that the information was adding up and staying the same throughout.

_**Basic tiger facts:**_

_Tigers are the largest members of the cat family (Felidae). The other big cat members of this family are lions, panthers and jaguars._

_These large, predatory felines are known for their iconic orange fur and black stripes. Fur colors do range across the subspecies though, with Sumatran tigers are typically sporting the darkest coats, and Bengal tigers sometimes sporting white coats thanks to a recessive gene. Stripes can vary in color and spacing across the subspecies as well._

_The largest tiger subspecies are the Amur (Siberian) tigers — males can weigh up to 660 pounds (300 kilograms) and females up to 370 pounds (167 kg) — and the smallest are the Sumatran tigers, with males weighing up to 260 pounds (120 kg) and females weighing up to 200 pounds (90 kg)._

_Tigers are carnivores that tend to eat freshly killed ungulates (wild pigs, cattle and deer). One tiger can eat as much as 40 pounds (18 kg) of meat in one go, according to the Save the Tigers Fund, though that one meal will typically last a tiger for several days._

_Baby tigers are called cubs and are typically born in litters of two or three, with one often dying at birth, according to the Save the Tigers Fund. Male tigers do not help raise their offspring._

_Unlike lions, which live in groups called prides, tigers are solitary animals that establish their own territories that provide them with plenty of prey and water supplies._

_Tiger attacks on humans are rare, but do occur, especially where humans and tigers come into close contact._

_**Where tigers live:**_

_The tigers that remain in the wild can be found in isolated pockets in 13 Asian countries, from as far west as India, as far south as Indonesia, to as far north as Siberia. Tigers once ranged all the way to Mesopotamia and the Caucasus._

_Tigers are adapted to a range of habitats, from mangrove swamps to dense jungles to the open Siberian taiga._

Kagome sighed, the only thing was that it said that males didn't help raise their young, but she didn't know if that was true for a demon tiger but she guessed she would have to see because she didn't really have anything to base them off, for Tora and Ankoku were the only two tiger demons she had seen and they didn't look all buddy-buddy at the moment so she didn't think she would find out about that till later on. "Inuyasha isn't going to like this, from what this says, Tigers are the kings of the cat world and Tora, having defeated Ankoku before, is sitting right at the top of the cat food chain" Kagome muttered as she printed the pages and then shut down the computer and exited the library.

For the next few days Kagome worked on school and catching up, which she managed to do. When the weekend came she sighed and packed away the notes and anything else she might need on her journey.

Arriving back in the feudal era Kagome looked up to find Inuyasha staring at her "bout time wench" Inuyasha snipped, his temper soured. Kagome frowned as she glared at him before opening her mouth "Inuyasha… SIT!" She climbed out as she heard Inuyasha let out a groan of pain; she huffed and made her way to Kaede's village where the rest of the group waited for her return.

Shippo came flying out and into her arms like usual, she laughed as she wrapped her arms around the small kit "miss me?" Kagome asked him with a smile on her face. Shippo smiled, not denying that he did miss Kagome while she was gone. Kagome walked into the hut and sat down, smiling at Sango while she did. Inuyasha came in, grumbling under his breath, but he sat down and just watched them. Kagome sighed as she dug through her pack, grabbing the notes that she had printed about tigers. "I did what you asked Inuyasha and looked up tigers… and I don't think you're going to like what I found" she said.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes but grabbed the notes and looked over them, sighing when he was done "I kinda figured" he muttered. Sango furrowed her brow and looked between them "what's going on? What did you figure?" she asked. Kagome answered her, her own voice calm "from what I found out, tigers are the largest cat breed out and the most powerful. They tend to be solitary animals unless they have cubs. But they can be found among other tigers just enjoying each other. I don't know how much a tiger demon would act like the animal they are named after… but from what I've seen from Tora and looked up about tigers, it's that tigers are not one you want to anger or have on your bad side." She said.

Inuyasha hummed "in short Sango, they are the type of demon that command respect and deserve respect. From what we've all seen we can rightly agree that they do have the right to command respect" he said with a small shrug "which was why Kirara basically begged for her forgiveness yesterday" he said, the fire neko huffed and closed her once open eyes but didn't make any sounds of disagreement, it was what she had done yesterday. The group looked at each other with grim faces before Miroku spoke up "not that I want to put a bigger damper on this conversation, but don't we now have a male tiger demon to contend with?" He questioned.

Kagome sighed "yes we do, and they are naturally bigger than females… although females tend to be more vicious than the males do. And from what I've seen, Ankoku isn't exactly the kind to be generous to us in any possible way" she said, her voice getting quiet at the end. The group sat in silence as they took in this information.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

**Okay so I don't know if at this point in the story Sesshomaru has a castle, but I'm just going to say he does and so that's where the majority of this chapter takes place. I'm sorry if it bores you but it's a deeper look into why Tora hates Ankoku so much, even before he took her brother captive. Akai knows the basics of the feud but it goes deeper than that so I'm going to dive down into the deep hatred that Tora holds for that demon in this chapter, hope you enjoy **

Tora sat outside in the garden, she looked and smelled human to any demon that passed by. She was watching Rin dance around the garden, the girl laughing and playing but always staying within sight distance of Tora, never wandering to far from the demon. Tora's mind flashed back to the conversation she had with Sesshomaru only a few days prior, she realized that it was one of the few conversations they had where they weren't at each other's throats… at least not literally speaking.

~ Few days prior ~

Standing on the battlements of Sesshomaru's palace, as she liked to call it, Tora looked out over the expanse of land, her senses repeatedly scanning the area over and over again as if she was hoping to find something. It had only been a few days after the confrontation with Ankoku, where she had once again lost her brother, gripping the wall Tora growled at herself. She felt the need to protect her little brother, to make sure he wasn't hurt and that he wasn't going to end up in something to deep… but she knew that he was already deep into something he shouldn't be, and it was partially her fault.

Feeling the approaching aura of the notorious dog demon, Tora turned to face him, her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised in question to what he wanted this time around. "Anything I can help you with?" She asked him, her tone neither hostile nor friendly. He let out a small growl of warning before he spoke his voice cold and held an edge of dislike. "Unfortunately for me and you as well, the lords and ladies of other lands will be coming soon to discuss treaties and all that." He told her, Tora felt her hackles rise at the words, she never like lords at all since they tended to be stuck up snobs most of the time.

"Great" She muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Sesshomaru merely raised an eyebrow at her before he continued "being as they are all demons and I will be busy with them, I want you to protect Rin while they are here" he said, his voice becoming hard and dangerous in warning to her "say near her and let no harm befall her" He growled at her, his eyes flashing as if he expected her to defy his orders. He seemed surprised when Tora merely tilted her head in thought before giving a curt nod "done" she said with a smirk on her face, obviously loving keeping the dog demon on his toes when dealing with her.

She would have left then but his voice stopped her "Tora… until the time becomes necessary for you to do so, I want you to look like a human while the lords are here, they'll find it suspicious if a powerful demon agreed to look after a ten year old girl. Unless you have to reveal that you are demon, I want you to stay looking like your human" He told her, Tora tensed when he started speaking and felt a growl wanting to come from her chest but instead curled her lip in distaste "fine" she spat at him before she turned and stalked off, her hair swaying behind her _this won't be fun _her beast grumbled.

Tora changed her appearance as she walked, she felt her fangs shorten till they seemed to disappear and her claws shortened to ningen nails while her markings disappeared and her blue eyes changed to brown. She knew that blue eyes were extremely rare among ningens, even demons, so she didn't want to draw attention to herself by having that small feature. She packed up her stuff from the room she was currently residing in and moved into an empty one that was close to Rin's room, if she was required to watch over the child then she would be as close as she possibly could to the child.

~ Present Day ~

Tora chuckled, she knew that they hadn't exactly gotten along but it was one of those conversations where she didn't end up pushed up against a tree, and that was a start. Her back was getting tired of rubbing against tree bark. Tora's head snapped up as her senses caught that of one of the lords who had arrived a day ago coming closer to her location. "Rin, come here" Tora called out, making sure that her scent and aura appeared human as well as her appearance. "Coming Tora" Rin called back before the young girl scampered to Tora's side.

It wasn't long before the demon rounded a corner to spot Tora standing, placing a flower crown on Rin's head, a small smile gracing her face. Tora looked up and froze as if she had just spotted the lord "my lord" she said, bowing to him as she grabbed Rin's hand in her own. Tora hated how she had to address him but she was pretending to be a lowly ningen servant, tasked with looking after Lord Sesshomaru's ward. She knew that not many of the lords knew about Rin, as Sesshomaru had managed to keep them away from her but apparently one managed to get close.

The demon's eyes narrowed as his lip curled in disgust "Why would a filthy ningen and her child be here?" He demanded of the two of them. Rin opened her mouth to reply when Tora squeezed her hand and threw her a sharp, reprimanding look, one that could be mistaken for disciplining the girl for about to speak out of turn. Rin's mouth snapped close and she lowered her head, her eyes on the ground. Tora turned to answer the lord, making sure to keep her eyes on the ground and not meeting his gaze.

"We are here under Lord Sesshomaru's orders my lord" She said politely, hoping he would just leave them be, since she had told him no lie. But apparently he thought she was lying even though he could smell the honesty in the statement. "You expect me to believe that Lord Sesshomaru would allow you two to roam his palace freely." He snarled at Tora, his eyes flashing red. Tora felt him gathering his youkai and realized that she would either have to run, which she would immediately be caught, or drop her facade of a female ningen.

Making a split second decision Tora let her facade drop; her fangs came out along with her nails. Her markings prominent on her skin while she glared at the demon lord and let her aura and youkai slam against his aura and youkai. She watched with satisfaction as the demon lord took a few steps back in surprise at her sudden change and the amount of power she held. Tora spoke before he could "The child, Rin, is under Lord Sesshomaru's protection and I am her protector" she snapped at the demon. Driven by an instinct that she thought she had lost long ago, Tora picked up Rin and settled the girl on her hip.

The demon snarled at her in anger "You bitch!" He snapped at her, his body tense and radiating anger. When he started summoning his youkai again, Tora bolted towards the castle, she set Rin down near the door "Rin, I want you to go to your room and stay there till either I or Lord Sesshomaru comes to get you" She told the girl in a stern voice. She nodded and bolted towards her room. Tora placed a barrier around the room that allowed only her or Sesshomaru to pass through.

She turned and bolted back to the demon, intercepting him before he came to close to the palace door, her eyes hard with anger and determination. "If you threaten Rin's safety again I will attack" she warned him in a low growl, her eyes flashing red in warning to the demon before her. The demon opened his mouth to make a retort when they both felt Sesshomaru's aura crash against their own. Not a moment later the dog demon came into view, his eyes narrowed as he took in Tora's appearance, deducing that something had happened to make her drop her facade.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Sesshomaru demanded his eyes cold and hard. The other demon spoke before Tora could "this bitch claims that a human girl is under your protection" he said with a sneer as he glared at Tora. Tora growled low in her throat at the insult but didn't speak. Sesshomaru's eyes flashed in anger at his words "you doubt her word" he growled at the lord, watching as the demon blinked in shock at his words. Before he could make a statement Sesshomaru turned to Tora, his eyes narrowed "Where is Rin?" He demanded.

Tora clasped her hands together in front of her "Rin is safe within her room my lord. I sent her there before letting this gentle man know that I would attack if he threatened Rin's safety again" she explained, her voice neutral with the right amount of respect laced into the words. If Sesshomaru was surprised by her respect he didn't show it, instead his mind jumped to her words. "Again?" He demanded as he turned a deadly eye on the other lord, who immediately tried to explain. "I thought they were trespassing Lord Sesshomaru" he exclaimed.

Tora growled in displeasure at that "even after I told you we were here under Lord Sesshomaru's orders!" She snarled at him before snapping her jaw shut at Sesshomaru's look. Sesshomaru turned to the other lord "I will let this slide this once, since I don't scent any blood, but be warned Lord Katashi, if Rin's safety is put in danger by you again, I will join Tora in the attack" He warned. Tora watched with hidden satisfaction as Katashi paled at Sesshomaru's words before speaking "U-understood Lord Sesshomaru!" he said with a bow.

Sesshomaru turned "Tora, come" His voice was emotionless as always. Tora bowed her head slightly "yes my lord" she said quietly as she followed him out of that part of the garden. Once they were alone Sesshomaru stopped and looked at her, an eyebrow raised in question "why the sudden respect?" He asked her. Tora huffed "I'm technically supposed to be a 'servant' and having Lords sniff around because you won't kill a disrespectful 'servant' would cause to many problems" she said with a wave of her hand, as if it didn't really matter.

Narrowing his eyes Sesshomaru watched her "you seem familiar with the ways Lords act" he growled, suspicion thick in his voice and gaze. Tora shrugged "well I'd think I would, considering my father had been a lord… at least before he lost his title to another and then decided to live a simpler life instead of going back to try and regain his seat. He taught me what he knew about lords while we lived in the wilderness." She said simply with a shrug of her shoulders. Sesshomaru stayed silent, obviously trying to see if she was lying or speaking the truth.

After apparently deciding that she was speaking the truth he gave a curt nod and started to turn away, only to stop as Tora stiffened and her eyes flashed red. Tora turned and took off towards Rin's room, vaguely aware of Sesshomaru behind her, but she didn't dwell on the thought, instead she bolted into the castle and turned the corner that led to Rin's room, only to see a wolf demon sniffing around Rin's room. Hearing Rin whimper in fear from inside the room as she watched the wolf try to get past the barrier, Tora shifted in rage and lunged forward to swipe at the wolf demon, sending him flying into a wall nearby.

The wolf yelped in slight pain before he glared at Tora, a low growl rumbling from his chest as Tora crouched in front of Rin's room and let out a hiss at the wolf in warning. Sesshomaru came around the corner, red glinting in his eyes as he took in the situation with his eyes. "Explain!" he demanded in a snarl. The wolf shifted to his ningen form "I recognized her scent, I was only curious as to why. I meant no harm" he replied evenly, Tora couldn't scent any dishonesty coming from the wolf.

Leaving him to Sesshomaru Tora shifted and swept into Rin's room to gather the shaking girl into her arms. Rin whimpered as she buried her face into Tora's chest, Tora felt herself growl at the raw fear that was coming from Rin. She heard Sesshomaru and the wolf talking outside and what she heard made her bristle as her maternal instincts kicked in with vengeance to protect the small girl in her arms. "My ward had been attacked by wolves earlier on, which may explain why she's familiar" Sesshomaru growled at the wolf demon.

Tora blocked out the rest of the conversation as she soothed Rin to sleep like a mother would. Once Rin was sleeping and tucked into bed, Tora exited the room and stood before Sesshomaru and the wolf demon, her eyes cold and emotionless. "I advise you wolf to keep your distance from Rin" she said in a voice void of all emotion before she turned and walked out into the gardens. Spotting a pond Tora shifted and waded into the shallows to lay down. Tora sighed as she gazed at her reflection in the water with sorrowful eyes.

She sensed Sesshomaru's approach before she saw his reflection "how is it that your flames don't affect the water?" He asked her, his head tilted in curiosity. Tora chuckled in amusement "aren't cats supposed to be the ones with curiosity?" She asked before the amusement died down and she answered his question "the flames only affect what I wish them to, and I don't wish to evaporate the water" She replied, her voice once again emotionless.

Sesshomaru remained silent for a few moments as he watched the tiger that lay in the water, her posture slumped in sadness. He narrowed his eyes as he thought back to her behavior before and it suddenly clicked in his mind. "You lost kits, didn't you?" he asked, his voice gentler than normal but still emotionless. His only answer was a low keening whine from deep in her throat. "May I ask how?" he asked her, his voice soft, but he was genuinely curious what caused a powerful demon such as Tora to lose her cubs.

Tora wasn't really paying attention so she didn't notice when he transformed to his true form and lay down on the bank, knowing that being in his animal form would make her more comfortable, but she wasn't paying attention, she was too busy going through her memories before she start speaking. "It's the main reason I have a feud with Ankoku." She started softly "I had taken a mate centuries ago, when my own mother was still carrying Akai. At the time the two of us knew that we didn't want to be lifelong mates as was customary for young tigers, so we mated and then went our separate ways, he would return to check up on his cubs when they were older. During my pregnancy Ankoku found me" she said, her claws sliding into the ground under the water.

"He wanted to mate me for life, something I didn't want to do, especially not with him. I managed to escape him and hide until my cubs were born, knowing that I wouldn't stand a chance while pregnant against him. After making my den I settled down to wait for them to be born, I had stocked up on enough food to last months after I gave birth. I gave birth to three cubs, but one didn't survive the first night, it was saddening but wasn't that surprising considering that I hadn't given birth with healers all around to ensure their health.

After keeping them inside the den for weeks to let them gain strength, I finally let them out to explore, needless to say they loved the outside world. Rikka especially, my little girl loved to just chase anything that moved, while Kuja, her brother was the one who would watch and make sure that she was safe and unharmed." Tora felt tears in her eyes at thinking about her cubs but she pushed them away and continued with the story. "It had been months since they were born and Ankoku had not showed any sign of having found me, so I deemed it safe enough to leave them at the den and go out hunting, as I was out of food and needed nourishment" she said softly as she gripped the ground tighter with her claws.

"When I returned though, my den was in shambles and… my… my cubs lay in the middle of the wreckage… Kuja was laying protectively over Rikka like he had tried to protect her from whatever had attacked them. Both of them had deep gashes over their bodies, they were dead before I had returned. Ankoku's scent was all over the clearing and all over my cubs" she growled as her fire flared up before settling down again, although it sent the water around her to a boil for a few moments. It was silent for a few moments before she felt anger coming from behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, Tora saw Sesshomaru laying there with a furrowed brow, his eyes slightly red. Although there were many attempts made on many demon young, to attack them for no reason other than you want to mate the mother was not something that even demons liked to hear or even think about. Sesshomaru spoke, his voice still emotionless but had a hard edge to it that wasn't there before "I assume afterwards was when you fought and defeated Ankoku" he mused softly.

Tora nodded "I tried to kill him but was prevented by the lord of the lands I was in, Ankoku was considered his friend and the lord couldn't' believe that his friend would kill cubs to mate me" she replied, her anger rising again at the thought of the lord who had prevented her from extracting her revenge. Sesshomaru spoke up again "well I'm sure that this time you'll get your revenge" he said simply before he sat up. Tora looked down and was surprised to see that she hadn't noticed her fire had started to cause the water to evaporate and the water level was lower than before.

Sighing she stood up and exited the water, feeling the water shed from her fur like she was a fish. Because Tiger's loved water, they had fur that would shed water easily. Sesshomaru turned his nose as a scent hit his nose, Tora froze in recognition and her lips curled up in anger at the familiar scent. She shifted along with Sesshomaru as a familiar lord stepped into view. Sesshomaru inclined his head "Lord Yoru, glad you could make it" Sesshomaru said in a polite voice. Yoru was about to reply when he caught Tora's scent, he froze and looked at her with wide eyes "you can't be!?" He muttered.

Tora huffed "can't be what Lord Yoru? The tiger demonness you refused to allow to extract her revenge?" she asked anger in her voice. Yoru narrowed his eyes "I still don't believe that Ankoku would do such a thing!" Tora growled low in her throat "well he did, and not only that Lord Yoru but he has forced a bond between himself and my brother, my brother now has to do whatever Ankoku says, despite his better judgment!" She spat angrily. Yoru was about to snap back when Sesshomaru spoke up "Lord Yoru, I don't mean to insult you by talking about one of your 'friends' like so, but I have seen Ankoku and Akai, Tora's younger brother, and everything I have seen and what Akai has told me holds true to what Tora has said" he said simply.

Yoru stood like a fish out of water gazing at the two of them, Tora was shaking with both anger and sadness, after her cubs had been killed, she had gone into depression, and then when her mother died when Akai was but a cub, Tora took over as mother for him. It filled the ache in her heart to raise her younger brother like her own, but she made sure he knew that she was his sister, not his mother early on. She spoke, her voice soft and quiet "I know you don't want to believe that anyone would do such a thing Lord Yoru, but I'm telling you this not as a demonness who is spiteful or jealous of Ankoku, but as a mother who lost her cubs in a ruthless attack and then her brother who she raised as her own when their mother died" She said softly.

Yoru sighed and placed a hand on his head, he couldn't scent any dishonesty or see any in either Lord Sesshomaru's eyes or the tiger demonness and he had a feeling in his chest that he had known that Ankoku was able to do such a thing but hadn't want to believe it. "Do you know where Ankoku is?" He asked, Tora shook her head "no I do not, we met him though about a week ago on the edge of the western lands, he was searching for me, still bent on bonding me to him any way he can" she replied to his question.

Yoru put his hands in his pockets "I have refused to believe what I knew in my heart to be true for centuries now, especially when he disappeared off the radar after you left to take care of your brother. I just didn't want to think that someone I had counted a friend would do something like that." He said his voice weary. Tora nodded, she seemed about ready to fall apart so she turned to Sesshomaru "I'm going to retire for the night Lord Sesshomaru" she said, her voice quiet and nearly breaking, he nodded and she turned and basically bolted towards the palace.

Tora ran all the way towards her room, she couldn't bear to be near Yoru any longer, his scent alone brought back to many memories of the day she almost managed to kill Ankoku, if she had her brother would have never been in his current position and neither would she. Once in her rooms Tora put up a barrier to keep everyone else out and curled her fingers into fists. Her rooms were right next to Rin's so she didn't dare make a sound that would alert the ten year-old girl.

Tora's beast was growling on the inside _we will make that bastard pay for all the pain he has put us through! _Her beast snarled in anger _that we will and more, he deserves to rot in hell for the next thousand years! _Tora agreed as she started pacing back and forth, desperately trying to relieve her tension, she knew that retelling her story would be painful but it also brought heavy waves of pain that she struggled to control.

After a few more moments Tora changed into clothes more practical if she was fighting and then grabbed her weapons that she had retrieved after asking Sesshomaru a few days prior if she could go collect her weapons. It consisted of a specially made katana that channeled her youkai through it and two Shuriken that resided in sheaths on her calves and a Yumi or bow and arrows, the arrows capable of channeling her youkai as well.

After making sure the barrier around Rin's room was still intact and that no one could get through, Tora made her way to the dojo. She stopped outside and made sure that no one else was inside before she pushed open the door and made her way inside; wearing her fighting clothes she was easily able to get a hold of all her weapons. She started out using her Yumi, not bothering to channeling her youkai this time as it would cause explosions that she didn't want and it would waist pointless arrows.

Tora's lip curled in satisfaction as she shot arrow after arrow into the targets, always hitting her mark. She stopped when she ran out of arrows and looked over her work with a critical eye, she gathered her arrows, glad that because they were made by a youkai they didn't break by how fast they were flying with her strength behind them. She then switched to using her shuriken, practicing crouching and smoothly sliding one of the blades out of the sheath into her hand with the ease of years of practice.

She practiced hand to hand movements as if she was blocking blades with the two shorter ones and throwing them, keeping up with being able to throw them from far distances to hit her target directly in the middle. After practicing with her shuriken for what seemed like hours, Tora stopped and stood in the middle of the dojo, her hands still shaking slightly, she still had anger in her system, not as much as before, but enough still there that she knew she wouldn't be getting to sleep without expelling the anger.

Taking off her Yumi and shuriken, Tora unsheathed her katana and settled into her crouch before she went through the motions, starting out slow and precise, getting faster and faster as the combinations got more complex. Pretty soon she was twisting and ducking like she was actually avoiding an enemy's blade, meanwhile her katana never ceased moving, always going this way or that with precise controlled movements.

Tora was jerked out of her haze of fighting when her katana met real resistance. She looked up to find Sesshomaru standing in front of her with a blade in his hand, the same one that was blocking her katana currently. "Thought you were looking after Rin" He stated his voice devoid of emotion as usual. "There is a barrier around Rin's room, plus and alert that I will know if she wakes up and will be able to get there before she decides to leave" Tora answered him, her own voice bland of emotion as well.

Sesshomaru's head tilted in understanding before he glanced around the room, spotting her other weapons leaning up against the wall "I assume that you've been here since you left the garden" He said. Tora shrugged "a little bit after, didn't really keep track of how long I've been here, figured it was best to get rid of my anger before I took it out on the wrong person… or Rin" she said, her voice quiet on the last part. Sesshomaru seemed to stiffen at that and took a step back, a sound of metal sliding along metal following his movement.

"I do hope that your calm enough" he said, his eyes narrowed. Tora stood up fully, her katana still gripped tightly in her hand "I'm calmer than I was before" she said with pursed lips as she avoided looking at him. It was silent for a few moments before Tora heard movement and reacted out of instinct, her sword shooting up to block the blade that was swinging through the air. Sesshomaru stood, his eyes narrowed as he watched her before he pushed off and then jumped back forward, his blade singing through the air.

Tora felt her blood start to heat up with the exertion of fighting, being a demon fighting always intrigued her, but on top of that she was a tiger demon, and tiger demons tended to crave fighting more so than any other demon on the planet, or at least, that's what Tora's been told so far. The two of them exchanged blow after blow for what seemed like forever, to any human eye they would have just been blurs, the only sound that they actually hit was the sound of metal clashing against metal, but to any demon they would be able to follow, or at least follow better than a human could.

Neither of the two fighting noticed the sounds of their spar had drawn a crowd to watch the two, many could see that Sesshomaru was still as void of emotion as before, while the tiger seemed to be vibrating with not only anger but excitement. Yuri watched with awe in his eyes, he had seen Tora fight before and realized that she had only gotten better since then, it was only enhance that she was able to hold her own against Sesshomaru and fight back with blows of her own.

The fight dragged on forever before exhaustion started slowing down Tora's movements, it did so with Sesshomaru as well but his was less noticeable. Seconds after this realization, Tora found herself disarmed and with Sesshomaru's blade at her throat, not hard enough to cut the skin but enough to let her know that she lost the fight. The two stared at each other for a few moments, both breathing heavily before Sesshomaru flicked his sword away and sheathed it.

Tora turned, freezing as she spotted the demons that had gathered to watch, she pursed her lips before picking up her katana and sheathing it, she then made her way to her other weapons and placed those on the appropriate body part as well. She walked towards the demons, not caring that they were all staring at her or Sesshomaru; the demons stepped to the side and watched her path, many of them wondering who the tiger demon was as she wasn't of any nobility that they knew of.

Arriving at her rooms Tora slipped out of her fighting wear and dressed in her old kimono, grabbing a fresh one she intended to head to the bath house when the alarm went off, telling her that Rin was awake. Humming, Tora slipped into the young girl's room "hello Rin" She greeted with a purr in her voice, Rin looked up with a smile "Tora!" She cried as she jumped forward to hug the tiger demon. Tora smiled "hey, do you want to come with me to the bath house?" Tora asked the young girl.

Rin grinned before she grabbed an extra kimono as well. Tora hummed and held the young girl's hand as they walked towards the bath house. Tora lit a lantern near the door to let others know that the bath house was in use before she disrobed and slipped into the water, Rin following shortly after. Tora hummed a soft tune under her breath, soothing both herself and Rin. Both Tora and her beast found it a surprise to see how much that she cared for Rin and treated her much like she had treated her own cubs, despite her not being of blood and ningen at that.

After bathing Tora took Rin back to their rooms to put away their items and then out to the gardens. Once there Tora watched as Rin flitted around with smiles and giggles of laughter. Tora sat in the grass watching the young girl with a softness in her gaze, she, unknowingly, shifted and low lay in her tiger form with her head on her forepaws, her fire sleeping and nonexistent on her body. She watched as Rin turned around and stopped in shock as seeing Tora in her tiger form.

Rin approached Tora slowly; her head tilted before she came over and sat down halfway between Tora's forepaws and hind paws. Tora started letting loose a low, soothing purr which had Rin's eyes drooping and then the girl eventually drifted off against Tora's side. Tora continued to purr, curling her tail around Rin's body to keep her warm as she put her head on her forepaws and continued to just gaze around, her mind flitting down different paths, some of them about her cubs and others about Ankoku, but the main ones were about Rin and what she was going to do when she would have to leave to fight against Ankoku.

She raised her head as she sensed someone approaching and narrowed her eyes, only relaxing as she spotted Sesshomaru walking down the path. He stopped as he spotted Rin curled up into Tora's side while Tora was in her tiger form "this is a surprise" he said in his normal emotionless voice. Tora merely blinked and put her head back onto her forepaws. "Be prepared to leave, the day after the lords and ladies leave we are leaving as well" he told her before turning and walking away.

Tora gave a hum of acknowledgement before she turned her head and placed it next to Rin's sleeping form.

Rin woke up after a few moments and blinked her eyes before smiling at Tora, her eyes shining. Tora shifted back to her human form and smiled back "come, let us find something to entertain ourselves with" Tora told her before grabbing Rin's hand and walking back towards the palace, her hair swinging behind her while she smiled fondly at the human girl who walked with her.


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

**I do not own Inuyasha!**

Tora felt immense relief when the lords and ladies left Sesshomaru's home, the meeting finally over. She flopped back onto her futon with a groan of relief. The lords had been nosy and constantly trying to pry into her life when they learned that she was a demon, not a human. At least, for the first few days they were till Tora finally snapped at one point and nearly attacked a lord with gleaming red eyes, showing that her beast had had enough and was ready to tear anyone apart that pried further.

Snickering, Tora remembered how Sesshomaru had responded, many of the lords thought that Sesshomaru would flip out since she had threatened to attack someone under his roof, but to everyone's surprise, including Tora's, Sesshomaru merely raised an eyebrow and told them all that he wasn't the one who offended Tora's beast.

After that Tora tended to avoid the other lords and they tended to avoid her as well, not wanting to rile her beast any more so than they already did.

The sound of footsteps drew Tora out of her thoughts, sitting up she looked to the door and spotted Sesshomaru standing in the doorway, she raised an eyebrow in question "anything you need oh great and powerful lord Sesshomaru?" She asked him with a small amount of sarcasm in her voice, once again relieved that she was exactly required to be all prim and proper around him anymore.

His eyes narrowed in warning before he spoke "we leave in the morning" He said. Tora's head tilted as she looked at him "and where are we going? Or at least why?" She asked him, not that she didn't want to leave, but was curious as to what Sesshomaru was after, he didn't have any need to go after anyone… at least not that she knew of.

Sesshomaru looked at her and seemed to understand what she was asking "I have a bone to pick with Naraku" he said, narrowing his eyes at the smirk on her face from his choice of words "as he thought to use Rin to control me" He said, watching as the smirk dropped and her eyes flared up with heat "did he do anything to her?" Tora asked him.

He shook his head "held her captive and threatened to kill her to get me where he wanted but he didn't permanently hurt her" he said with a hard voice at the memory. A growl came from Tora "well we might run into Ankoku along the way so we'll both get what we want" she said with a feral grin on her face as she imagined sinking her fangs into Ankoku's throat.

Sesshomaru merely nodded before turning and walking away, he had told Tora that she had his permission to wander around the palace for as long as they stayed there so even if he was farther than three hundred from her she didn't feel any pain or need to get closer to him. Tora hummed and pulled herself up so that she could prepare for the departure.

Given the fact that she didn't have a lot of stuff to pack it didn't take her that long to get everything together and in order so that she could easily just grab and go. It didn't take long to pack Rin's items either, as Tora doubted that Sesshomaru would leave Rin here with the demon staff, but she wasn't totally sure so she left some things unpacked just in case he did want to have Rin stay here.

_Now we just wait for morning to come _Her beast hummed, stirring for the first time in a few days. _Yes, but I can assure that we will have our revenge _Tora said with a grin on her face as she sat on the edge of the balcony outside her room, watching the trees sway back and forth with the wind. Leaning back on her hands, Tora closed her eyes and just basked in the moonlight, not needing sleep as she wasn't injured.

When morning came, Tora heard Sesshomaru's footsteps and immediately picked up her small sack of belongings "is Rin coming with us?" Tora asked him, her head tilted in thought. He gave a nod before he slipped into said girl's room to wake her up. Tora watched him with something akin to wonder with how gentle he was; she of course had heard of the human-hating western lord and was surprised of his adoration for the human child.

_Not that many could hate her _she thought to herself with some adoration, as she cared for the young girl. Her beast hummed in agreement _she just has something about her that makes others want to be near _her beast said simply as it seemed to purr as Rin woke up with a smile immediately lighting her face as she looked up at her lord.

Tora couldn't fathom on how Sesshomaru had gained such loyalty from the girl, but she shook away the thoughts, it wasn't her business and the fact was that Rin cared for Sesshomaru and would do whatever he asked of her.

Once Rin was ready and Ah-Un was packed, the small group set off, with Rin and Jaken riding on the dragon as he flew in the air, Sesshomaru traveling on his youki cloud and Tora down on the ground in her true form, loping along with easy strides, easily keeping up with the group. While running, Tora kept her senses sweeping across the land, making sure there was nothing that would hinder her or prove dangerous.

When the ones flying landed in a clearing, Tora yawned and laid down, not bothering to shift out of her true form and rather just put her head on her paws and watched the group go about their normal business. She couldn't help but snort with laughter as Rin constantly poked at Jaken to play with her and Jaken constantly trying to deny her but eventually giving in.

At the same time, both Tora's and Sesshomaru's heads snapped around as they caught the aura of a demon nearby, Sesshomaru started to prepare for attack when Tora recognized the aura and let out a low purr before standing up and padding away into the forest, aware of Sesshomaru's eyes on her. She was equally aware of him following her after telling Rin and Jaken to stay where they were.

Tora shifted to her humanoid form and crouched down as a white hare demon burst out of the undergrowth and into her arms "Tora-sama!" The hare cried in relief as she snuggled into the larger demons hold. "Usagi, it is good to see you… but what are you doing here? I told you to go into hiding after Ankoku became too great of a threat." Tora said, leaning back to look the demon in the face.

Usagi sniffed and looked at her paws "well, I was in hiding, listening to the word going around and I came across something I thought you should know…" she trailed off as Sesshomaru came into view over Tora's shoulder, her eyes going wide in fear as she started shivering in fear and pushing closer to Tora. Tora chuckled at the small demons reaction "Usagi this is, am I'm sure you know, Sesshomaru" she said, ignoring his glare at her as she refused to use his title.

"But unless you're a threat to us I doubt he will attack… but what is this information that you deemed I needed to know?" She asked the trembling demon, she knew that Usagi wouldn't have risked coming out of hiding if it wasn't for a good reason. Her question seemed to draw the demon out of her stupor of seeing the demon lord as she turned to look at Tora with solemn eyes.

"Tora-sama… Oomari has returned to Japan, he even now searches for you" Usagi said, her voice soft. Tora felt like she was dunked in cold water as her face paled and her body went stock still in shock at hearing the name come from Usagi's mouth. She was drawn out of it when Sesshomaru spoke up "who is this… Oomari that you speak of?" He asked.

Tora closed her eyes before speaking "he is the father of my cubs… like I said, when tigers don't mate for life they get back together years, even centuries later, to introduce the cubs to their father… it shouldn't be a surprise that Oomari has returned at this time but I still don't fancy telling him that the cubs he's probably been thinking about for centuries have been dead for all those centuries" she said, her voice flat and emotionless.

Setting Usagi back on the ground, Tora sighed and ran a hand through her hair, a rare display of uneasiness from the tigress. Sesshomaru seemed surprised before he blinked "will he be a threat to this Sesshomaru?" he asked. Tora shook her head "no, if I was his mate then yes you would be, but I'm not his mate, only the female who bore him cubs… and failed at protecting them" she said as she turned to look at the dog demon behind her.

Sesshomaru nodded "I assume you want to go search for him to give him the news before he receives it from another source?" he asked with a raised an eyebrow, his face still expressionless. Tora nodded and stood up; she opened her mouth and hesitated before she spoke tentatively. "Would Usagi be able to travel with you? She's no danger to you or Rin, but I don't want her wandering around. Ankoku knows her and will most likely hurt her if he gets his claws on her" Tora asked him.

Usagi seemed to shrink away from the gaze of the dog demon "can she protect herself?" he asked. Before Tora could answer Usagi seemed to get her courage "I'm not completely useless!" Usagi growled out "I may not be the strongest youkai out there but I can and will fight or protect for myself if need be." She said before shrinking again as Sesshomaru turned his flat gaze on her.

Tora spoke up "she can fight if need be, better yet, she can protect Rin while you're busy" Tora said. Usagi seemed confused on whom this Rin was but wisely remained silent as the two demons spoke. Sesshomaru huffed out a breath "she may travel with us, but if she puts Rin in danger I will not show mercy" Tora nodded before turning to Usagi "you'll understand who Rin is when you reach the campsite, but if anything happens I expect you to protect her" Tora said.

Usagi nodded, while she was small and a hare demon at that, Usagi was fast and had her own abilities to survive. Being able to flee was one of them, but she could also use her speed to dash around her opponents and get in quick, slash them and out again before they could get a swipe in edge wise. Sesshomaru watched, he watched as the hare demon flexed her forepaws "I will Tora-sama and Lord Sesshomaru" she said, respect in her voice as she addressed both of the demons.

Only when that was done did Sesshomaru look at Tora "go, find Oomari but return when you're finished" he told her, he turned and walked back to the clearing. Usagi was confused but figured she would find out soon enough and followed Lord Sesshomaru, looking back once she didn't see Tora-sama and knew that she was already off in search of Oomari. _I hope that it all goes well _She prayed silently in her head before bolting after the dog demon, catching up to him quickly and slowing down to walk about five feet behind him, not wanting to disturb him.

"How do you know Tora?" his voice caused her to jump in shock "well, she saved my life Lord Sesshomaru… I owed her a debt that I have repaid but I feel attached to her and so shall serve her till the time I die" Usagi replied evenly which was true, she had been a young demon at the time. On one of her many reckless adventures she fell into the clutches of a rather large wolf demon, Tora happened to be passing by and heard Usagi pleading for her life.

Although eating other demons wasn't unusual in their culture and Tora wasn't bugged by that part of it, it was when she realized that the wolf demon was just going to kill Usage for the fun of killing, not for any need for food that she had a problem with what was happening. So she had killed the wolf demon and saved the hare demons life, since then Usagi had served the tiger demon with her life, even putting her own life on the line for her lady.

Usagi was pulled out of her thoughts by Lord Sesshomaru's noise of thought before he spoke once more "I can assume that you know of the hatred and the reason behind it for Ankoku, correct?" he asked. Usagi felt her own anger start at the thought of that wretched tiger demon "yes, I do know of her hatred for him and the reasons behind that. Even about her brother, that was about the time she told me to go into hiding and I found out by listening for any news on what had happened Lord Sesshomaru" she answered.

Sesshomaru stopped and turned to stare at the hare demon following him, he had sensed her anger when he mentioned Ankoku "then this should be easy to explain, because of that tiger demon, Tora and I are bonded like he and Akai are. Which was why she needed my permission to go search for Oomari" He said. Usagi's eyes widened in shock before she nodded in understanding as he continued to speak.

"Furthermore, in the clearing we are coming into are the rest of our company, my retainer Jaken, my ward Rin, and then my two-headed dragon Ah-Un. Rin is human and as Tora said, I expect for you to protect her if there is any danger" he told her. Usagi nodded and dipped her head "Hai My lord, and I will do so with my life if need be" she said with a small smile on her face.

She could scent a human up ahead and figured that it was Rin so implanted that into her mind so she would know it by heart. Sesshomaru nodded and continued to walk, emerging into the clearing a few seconds later. Usagi continued forward and emerged into the sunlight, her white hair gleaming, like many lower she wasn't powerful enough to have a true human form, instead she looked sorta like a small human girl with a white fluffy tail and ears, but she didn't mind, plus if she wanted she look completely like a hare, which is what she looked like at the moment.

The human girl looked up and spotted the white fur, letting out a noise of amazement, the girl ran over and bowled into the hare demon "who are you?" The girl asked excitedly. Usagi laughed "My name is Usagi, I'm Tora-sama's retainer" She said with a smile. The girl immediately looked around for any glimpse of the tigress "where's Tora? She's coming back isn't she?" the girl asked.

Usagi stood up and wound around the girl to calm her down, letting out a sound from her chest that was meant for comfort "yes, she had to go take care of something but she will be back, don't you worry, she cares for you a great deal" Usagi told her, her voice soft and soothing, easily calming the girl down with her words and the soothing purr-like sound coming from her chest.

She sensed Sesshomaru tilt his head in surprise as he watched but he didn't say anything and went back to just staring blandly at the sky while leaning against a tree. _I sure do hope Tora-sama returns soon _Usagi's beast whined, feeling the tension in the air around the clearing…

The said tigress bolted away from Sesshomaru and her own retainer, she kept her senses spinning, checking for any sign of her former lover, or anything that could be dangerous to her. Her mind constantly wandering down memory lane, of the times that she and Oomari used to laugh and play as young tiger demons tended to do, they had known each other since cub-hood and although they weren't ready to officially mate they wanted to have cubs together.

So they did as any young tiger demons would and did mate to have cubs… sadly Oomari had been called away because his father had died, Oomari's father had gone to China in search of a mate and was able to find one there. So when his father died Oomari had to leave for China to make sure that everything was okay with his father's estate there, they both knew it could take centuries since his father had a large estate… plus the relations with the humans wasn't exactly the best.

But… now he was back in Japan and was most likely hoping to find Tora with a couple of cubs for him to meet. Tora was jerked out of her thoughts when she felt a familiar aura that seemed to pulse out and call to her. Swallowing the lump in her throat Tora bolted towards the aura, feeling it growing as she got closer but… there was another scent mixed in there with the one she was following.

Eyes widening as she recognized the scent of the second being, Tora let loose a roar of pure anger and fury before shifting to her true form before bolting forward at the speed of light. She emerged into a clearing, her nostrils flaring as she curled her lip up in a furious snarl. Spotting the reason for her anger she let loose a growl from deep in her chest as she spotted Oomari standing next to Ankoku, it looked like they had just been in a deep conversation.

"You bastard!" Tora snarled at Ankoku as she stalked closer, her claws coming out and glinting in the sunlight "what lies have you been telling him?" She snapped out angrily. Ankoku let a smirk curl over his face "only that his cubs died at the failure of the mother" he sneered. Tora felt her beast rise within her even more urgently than before as her blue eyes started bleeding red with hatred and anger "how dare you?" She snarled.

Ankoku tipped his head in fake confusion "how dare I do what? Tell the truth?" He asked mockingly. Tora roared in anger as her beast broke free and lunged forward towards the source of all her anger and pain for the past seven centuries. Ankoku shifted in the blink of an eye and met her claw for claw, but because of the fact that she was pushed on by anger and hatred she easily overpowered him.

She managed to sink her fangs deep into his shoulder and infuse some of her fire youki into it, to burn at his blood, he jerked away before she could infuse enough to kill him but it would still be painful him to experience and there was nothing he could do but endure it. He snarled at Tora before he took off, disappearing in a flash of red light. Tora stood, her muscles quivering as her beast urged her to take off after Ankoku but she knew she had to stay and explain to Oomari what had happened.

_Damn that bastard! _Her beast roared in anger, still in slight control of Tora's body her beast lunged at a tree knocked it over with a swing of her paw, letting loose a loud roar of pain and completely anger. A sudden weight on her back caused Tora to jerk around and try to attack whoever it was, but before she could do so, jaws latched onto the back of her neck to prevent her from turning to face whoever it was and a threatening growl was heard. Tora could scent that it was Oomari and figured that he was just trying to get her to calm down.

Due to the fact that he was larger and heavier than her, her legs buckled under her and forced her to the ground. Oomari quickly situated himself so that she was effectively pinned to the ground and couldn't move, once that was done he let out a purr that was meant to calm her down and after a few minutes her beast calmed down enough to let her take back control. When her beast gave her back control Tora let her muscles relax and immediately she felt guilt stab into her gut about their cubs.

A sound of pain came from her throat as she let her head lower, her eyes closing as her body quivered. She felt Oomari let go of her neck and instead licked down the ruffled fur in long soothing strokes as he removed himself from above her and instead crouched beside her, his fur brushing hers. "Tora?" he began uncertainly after a few minutes of silence. Tora pulled herself together, she had to tell him… but first "what did Ankoku tell you?" She asked him quietly, finally opening her eyes to look at him.

His true form hasn't changed much from what Tora could remember, besides him being taller and larger than before, but the black tiger that crouched next to her still looked like the black tiger that she remembered from seven centuries ago. He tilted his head and studied her for a few moments before answering her question. "Despite what you think, I didn't really listen to what he was trying to tell me Tora, he smelled of deceit" he told her, she stared at him, waiting for the answer she wanted.

He sighed and starts speaking "he told me that you abandoned our cubs and left them to die out in the wilderness" he said "he kept trying to make his story seem real but… there was deceit lacing his scent all around" he said, his voice rumbling in his chest as he spoke. Tora nodded before her breath hitched in her throat as he spoke again, his voice uneasy "Tora… where are the cubs?" He asked quietly.

A keening sound came from her throat "he was right in saying that they… that they…" She held in a sob as she closed her eyes and tried not to fall apart. "our cubs are dead Oomari" she said in a choked whisper, she heard his intake of breath and then felt the beginnings of anger in his scent, she jerked her eyes open and looked at him, she could see the beginning of accusation in their depths and felt a growl starting to rumble in her chest as she stood up slowly, her flames starting up and flickering all over her body.

"I didn't abandon them!" She hissed out angrily, watching as surprise flitted across his face "don't you dare stare at me with accusation!" She snapped out "you don't think I don't blame myself already? That I don't feel pain of knowing that I could have saved them?!" she snarled at him. He flinched and felt guilt beginning to crawl into his being, she was right he knew. He didn't know how they died and until he did he couldn't place the blame on any one individual, especially not the mother who was in front of him in an emotion wreck.

"Your right Tora, I'm sorry" he said, dropping his gaze away from hers and to the ground in shame. He could feel her emotions calming down and looked up to see the anger drop away, what shocked him though was when she looked at him with dead eyes; he had never seen Tora look at him like that, without any emotion inside them. Standing up he pressed against her, letting her get around to telling him what happened in her own time.

Tora closed her eyes and let herself lean against him as she gathered herself to tell the father of her cubs how the cubs he had never met had died. "It actually started when I was still pregnant with them. Ankoku apparently wanted me as his mate and was planning on waiting till I had given birth to get rid of them… but to do so he had to have me. I managed to escape him and went into hiding for months; even after I gave birth I stayed in hiding. I stocked up on enough prey to last at least six months, and it did last that long." Tora took a deep breath as she then came upon where the cubs had died.

"I left them at the den, stressing them to stay inside till I returned. I went out hunting, knowing that they would start eating meat and would need the nourishment. When I returned to the den though, it was in shambles… and our cubs… our cubs lay in the middle of the wreckage with wounds all over their bodies. The larger of the two lying over his sister like he had tried to protect her" She managed to get out with a chocked breath. She felt Oomari shaking beside her but he stayed silent as she finished.

"Ankoku's scent was all over the clearing, and all over our cubs, I tried to kill him, almost succeeded but a lord of the land who was his 'friend' prevented me from doing so" She said, shaking as she finally let out the sadness and anger that had been building up inside her. She heard a growl of complete and utter anger from beside her and turned to see Oomari standing with his tail lashing back and forth while his eyes flared red with a dangerous light in them.

Right as she was about to say something else, a scent caught both of their attention, snapping their heads around Tora spotted the red fire-cat coat of Inuyasha in the trees. It was a few minutes before him and his group came into the clearing, stopping as they spotted the two tiger demons, one of them shaking in complete and utter anger, his black fur standing on end and eyes glaring red in the sunlight.

Inuyasha's eyes had immediately snapped over to Tora, the tiger demon that he recognized as he warily watched the two of them. Tora made the first move; she moved past Oomari and slowly approached Inuyasha and his group, her eyes completely dead as she stared at them. "Hello Inuyasha" she greeted him. His brow furrowed in confusion at her greeting "what? No hey mutt, or hey half-breed?" He asked in surprise.

Tora shrugged and sat down "guess not" she said simply. Inuyasha blinked and muttered something about how 'woman are so confusing' before he looked past her to Oomari who was approaching them, now calmer than he was before. "So… what's going on?" Inuyasha asked wariness in his voice as he looked between the two demons in their true forms. Oomari spoke up "Tora was informing of something not exactly pleasing" he said, his voice barely above a growl.

Inuyasha scented the air and his eyes narrowed "let me guess, it had to deal with Ankoku?" He asked. Tora nodded sharply, her anger rising and made her feel great, it was better than the emptiness she had previously been feeling while talking "that it did" she said, her voice barely above a growl. She looked over at Oomari to see him looking at Inuyasha through narrowed eyes.

"How do you know Ankoku?" Oomari asked Inuyasha, Inuyasha met the tiger demons gaze head on and spoke evenly "he carries shards of the shikon jewel, my group and I hunt them down to keep them out of the hands of those who wish to use them for evil… and because we hunt for another half-demon named Naraku who hunts them as well" he replied easily.

Oomari's eyes narrowed even further at the name Naraku "I know of that half-demon… he tried to get me to work _for _him like he was above me in standing" Oomari's lips curled in disgust "I almost killed him but he managed to slip away at the last moment." He said in disappointment. This time Kagome spoke up, a sour note in her voice "I think the only reason he was able to slip away was because of the amount of shards he carries… they give him more power, more power than is ever normal for a hanyou" she said, her lips pursed.

Tora felt a growl rumble in her throat "that means that since Ankoku carries a piece it makes him more powerful, correct?" She asked her voice sharp. Kagome nodded "that is correct Tora" she said softly. Tora dug her claws into the ground in anger "damn" she hissed. She looked over as she felt something brush her shoulder and spotted Kirara in her battle form standing next to her, her head tilted. Tora let out a low sound and brushed her muzzle over Kirara's shoulder lightly.

Flicking her eyes over to the demon slayer Tora spoke up "I do hope you count Kirara as more than just a battle buddy Sango" she said, her voice low, the demon slayer nodded and hesitantly walked closer to scratch Kirara on her chin "I count her as a friend Tora, no need to worry about that" she said softly. Tora nodded, gave a small smile and looked once more at Kagome and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked like he had some info that they wouldn't like to hear "spill Inuyasha" Tora growled out. Inuyasha sighed "it seems that Naraku and Ankoku have struck a deal, I don't know what kind. All I know is that my vassal Myouga was out looking for information and caught the two of them together talking and they seemed to come to an agreement of sorts before departing" he said simply.

Tora dug her claws into the ground, a feral grin on her face at the thought "well that makes it easier… it means that both myself and Sesshomaru get to sink our fangs into our enemies around the same time if they are now allies" she said with glee as her eyes bled red at the thought of destroying Ankoku. At that Inuyasha chuckled "I guess so… but it also means that it'll be harder to kill them if they are looking out for one another… though I doubt Naraku is looking out for Ankoku, he usually doesn't care for those he deals with and tends to backstab them" he said.

Oomari's eyes narrowed at the mention of Sesshomaru, he knew of the western lord and wondered why Tora was traveling with him. Tora looked at him and seemed to sense his confusion "I would stay and explain why I travel with the western lord Oomari but I have to leave now, otherwise pain is going to become my best friend" she said before she stood up and lowered her head to brush her nose across Kagome's forehead "watch out for yourself Kagome" she whispered to her, too low for the hanyou to hear.

Once that was done Tora turned and started off "I'm pretty sure if you asked Inuyasha he could explain my situation to you, as he knows the basics of what happened and why I travel with his half-brother" she told Oomari over her shoulder before she disappeared into the forest. Once out of sight and out of the area she sucked in a breath, her paws shaking as she leaned heavily against a tree.

Her beast whimpered and gave off cooling auras _it's okay Tora, just relax, we'll get Ankoku back for all this heartache that he has caused us _Her beast said with a growl at the end of the sentence, making it a promise in her mind. Tora nodded, letting off a growl as well before she pushed off the tree and bolted to where the bond was pulling her to go.

It didn't take her long to return to Sesshomaru's group, she arrived fairly quickly and shifted to her humanoid form before walking into the clearing to be greeted by Usagi and Rin both "why hello there" Tora said with a chuckle at their excitement. "Missed me?" She teased them. Rin grinned "yup" she piped up, her eyes shining.

Usagi merely hopped backwards and sat back on her heels, a smile on her face, in her near human form Usagi looked like she would be about nine years old but she was hundreds years old, not as old as Tora but not exactly young enough to make mistakes in this world. Tora scooped Usagi up and gave her a hug "I missed you Usagi and will be glad to have you beside me once more" Tora told the lesser demon, causing her companion to grin at her, showing off the fangs that she had despite the type of demon she was, she still had fangs that were sharp.

Setting the demon down, Tora looked over at Sesshomaru, seeing him watching her before he gave a small tilt of his head and looking back up at the sky. Tora turned back as Rin tugged on her sleeve, wanting to play a game with the newly arrived tigress. Tora laughed and allowed the girl to pull her with her, Tora felt her beast basically purring as she played with Rin, she felt almost like a mother again while taking care of Rin.


End file.
